CandY
by threehoursofsleep
Summary: He never believed in demons. Not until she came. Shinichi x Kagome. Follows after Calone but can be read alone, CoAuthored with Kinz.
1. Unreliable Narrator AKA Prologue

**Things were going well for Kagome. **If she had been told a year ago that she would end up 500 years in the past living peacefully in a village, killing monstrous youkai in her spare time and helping the love of her life, a hanyou with soft ears and a softer heart, she would have assumed, naturally, that the person who told her was on crack and should be locked away before they hurt themselves.

Things were great since the death of Naraku, of course, but sometimes she still missed her family. It had been a couple of weeks since she'd left and they'd snuck up on her in her moments alone. She'd known though that the well would remain closed behind her and had prepared a little. She wondered if the photo, wilted in her hand, would show up in some museum hundreds of years into the future. Her family stared up at her.

This well had started everything for her, she placed her hand on the ledge, inhaling the scent of wood and the outdoors around her, the grainy texture warm under her fingers. She felt a flare go off up her spine suddenly. Whirling around she could hear the whistling explosion come near her, purple flames hurling themselves out, rolling and searing at the air.

Her voice trembled, a keen of her love's name leaving her mouth through her teeth but it was swallowed too quickly by the roaring purple and she fell backwards over the edge of the well. She had no time to think, and when she opened her mouth to scream the purple was surrounding her, the deep baritone of a voice too familiar whispering in her ears, pulsing through her. It was as if she could feel all the blood in her veins.

Useless, worthless, hopeless. Scent and vision swirled around her in a kaleidoscope of color and sensation, all her greatest fears rising up to swallow her.

Chanting of familiar platitudes, of first love and death defeated by love, of innocence and making the right decision, of darkness constantly fought against, as something inside her reached out bodily to help the hanyou, something ingrained and hard to forget, Kikyou coursing through her. The feeling of her very soul being ripped out, a pain unlike anything physical, dark and alone, waiting in that well, stuck in her own personal hell and praying to be saved.

He'd chosen Kikyou. How smart of him not to have fallen for the copy-cat. A pale imitation that had missed her mark. She'd given him what he'd wanted. She'd been selfless and good, had wished on the jewel to save Kikyou, and restored their hopeless romance. She'd set everything right. It should have made her feel good, but she missed her special relationship with Inuyasha. At least she could finally go home. The story was rearranged and made straight for dark purposes. Her darkness was highlighted for easy corruption, and she was rendered useless so that Naraku could come back.

He hadn't done nothing for the 50 years Inuyasha had been sleeping.


	2. Mixup

Neither I nor Kinz.911 own Inuyasha or Detective Conan. I, however, own a cookie for whoever reviews!

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"The waters that streams from birth  
Is something that cannot be caught in just one hand  
But if one suddenly tries to capture it  
It will slip through your fingers and be lost, but  
Even if the light of day is dim there is still hope

My words of prayer have always been:

'Give us each other...'

And let the flower petals now scatter..."

- KAT-TUN (Butterfly)

**The sun was bright, impossibly bright as it shined down on the clearing where the well that went through time sat.** A wind blew through the air, enough to stir the green grass a little and toss Kagome's hair as she walked. The clouds above were puffy and white, full with the prospect of a beautiful sunset.

"A beautiful day, neh?" Kagome spoke up cheerfully.

The group traveling with her smiled hesitantly. Sango exchanged a look with Miroku.

"Neh Kagome, maybe you should stay with us for the rest of the day," suggested Sango tentatively.

"Please???" Shippou hugged Kagome from where he sat on her shoulder.

"You know I would if I could," said Kagome quietly, carefully as if she was hurting and trying to prevent anyone else from hurting, regret etched into the shadows of her voice. "But it's time for me to go home."

Shippou looked at her with big, sad, eyes that only small children can make. "Kagome!! I don't want you to leave!" he wailed.

"Now, now Shippou-chan, I'll be back very soon, you know that," said Kagome, smiling gently at him and touching his nose, bright cheer a little _too _evident in her voice.

"B-But…" Shippou sniffled.

"And if I can't come back, you know I'll be alright, and I know you will too, because you're a very strong kitsune warrior," said Kagome bracingly, with a big encouraging smile.

"I-I'm nothing without you Kagome!" Shippou wailed.

"Shi-Shippou-chan!" Kagome exclaimed in surprise, reaching out and hugging him fiercely. "Don't be like that, you're something always, you're definitely something to _me_."

Shippou sniffled, wiping his nose as they made it to the well.

"Shouldn't we wait for Inuyasha?" asked Miroku hesitantly.

Kagome looked down at her feet, her vision blurring. She shook her head quickly. "Iie," her voice sounded strained, she swallowed. She suddenly felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She blinked, looking up. Sango looked at her with concerned eyes.

"Even if he chose Kikyou-sama in the end, I'm sure he would want to talk to you Kagome-sama," said Miroku gently.

"I…I just don't know if I could handle seeing him again…" said Kagome quietly. Sango pulled her into a hug, warm, safe, compassion and care welling for each other, Shippou patted her back. The girl pulled back from the hug, tears in her eyes, but they were grateful ones instead of hurt.

"All of us are so grateful for what you've done here," said Sango, treading in her words, avoiding bringing up anything about the prospect of Kagome not coming back.

"Arigatou, all of you have been so helpful to me, I…I'll see you soon," Kagome said. "I thought I'd just tell you though, before I left."

She hugged Shippou one more time. "Be good."

"I'll try for you Kagome," said Shippou, sniffling, not even attempting to puff out his chest bravely.

Kagome turned to the well.

"Kagome-sama," Miroku spoke up.

Kagome looked at him.

"A word of advice. Don't be held back by your love, but be honest with yourself," said Miroku. Sango's eyes widened and then she smiled proudly at Miroku, beaming.

"Arigatou!" Kagome hugged the monk.

BAM! Sango sighed, pulling back her boomerang.

"It was for old time's sake," said Miroku sheepishly.

Kagome shook her head, smiling at them all one last time, all of them standing together like a happy family, then jumping over the ledge of the well, tears in her eyes. A feeling of resignation hit her in the stomach when she felt the familiar tug as time pulled her in. She had hoped distantly that the well would have stopped working, made her stay with them, her friends who were so dear to her, but she knew that if she stayed she would have had to deal with Inuyasha and she wouldn't be able to see her family anymore.

'I'll get to see my family after so long!' Kagome tried to cheer herself up, she embraced the image of seeing her family again, used it to make a smile come back to her face, after all, even if she may not be able to go back, life wasn't over. Why should she be sad? But she was. She savored the feeling of weightlessness, wishing she could just be carried away like this, off into the distance, warm and safe, light and happy, no burdens.

Suddenly she felt a strong gust of air pushing at her. She put up her hands, trying to shield herself at the sudden onslaught. It grew in power and size and she cried out as she flew backwards, off to the side. It felt like small, sharp needles were raking over her as she flew. "Doushite-" Kagome suddenly hit the hard ground with a thump, her butt feeling bruised. "Itai!" she complained as she straightened, looking around. Where was she?

It looked like the inside of the well, like normal. Smelt like it too, same musty scent rising into the air, felt damp…Yes, everything seemed to be normal. But…what had happened in that time space…it was certainly not normal. Was it…because it was the last time she could go through the well? Had she been pushed over to a different kind of portal that would close up behind her? It made sense…But she felt so…tired all of a sudden. It was then that she noticed the weight of her backpack was gone.

"Mou…Another thing I have to explain to mama…Dumb wind, throwing me like that," she said childishly, standing up. "Eh?" The ladder that had been put there to help Kagome get out of the well was gone. She frowned, looking indignant, she huffed a sigh. Why had someone moved it? She looked up. Maybe no one had... She blinked at the thought, shaking her head and cupping her hands over her mouth.

"Sooooouta! Sooooooouta!" she repeatedly called the name until she heard the sound of the door opening. "Ah-Souta! Could you help me get out? The ladder's not here anymore, if you just lower it in then I should be able to get out," said Kagome.,

"Hai. I'll help you out Kagome," she heard her mother's voice say.

"Eh? Oh! Souta must still be at school, ne?" said Kagome sheepishly.

"Mm." A rope ladder dropped down. Kagome climbed up and stepped out.

"And he's going with his friends to the arcade after this," Kagome's mother smiled.

"I'm so happy to see you!" Kagome hugged her, she really had missed her.  
The teenager sighed as her mother held her without question, a sigh releasing from her. "I'm sorry for being gone so long…But Naraku is dead now and the jewel is gone…So I can stay home now," said the dark haired girl.  
Her mother's eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion, "Kagome…You've only been gone for a few hours…I'm just glad you're home safe, you didn't tell me you were leaving before you left, who's Naraku?"  
Kagome blinked, "I've been gone for over two months…It's the longest I've ever spent in the Sengoku jidai…" She looked up at her mother, her expression confused as well.  
Kagome's mother looked puzzled, "You've only started going there for about a week and a half…But…you do look older." She looked at her.  
"I'll be turning 16 in 3 days…" said Kagome softly.  
Her mother's eyes widened, "You turned 15 only 9 days ago!"  
Kagome's eyes widened. "Eh?"  
"Kagome…what happened?" the woman asked.  
"When I was coming back through the well…I was blown off course by a wind," said Kagome. "I must have gone back in time! But…not far enough to end up in Inuyasha's time." Kagome blinked. "Wait! Does that mean…There are two of me?"  
Kagome's mother shook her head, "I didn't see you this morning."  
The girl sighed, confused about the entire thing. "How could I not be here?"  
"Maybe because you're only one person and you can't be in two places at once?" suggested her mother.  
"Mm…But I existed now and I will in about a year too…How can I not be here now-I mean…" Kagome was getting a headache.

"Why don't you lie down Kagome…Maybe going to that time is too much for you," said her mother, steering her gently outside.

"I don't think so…" said Kagome, but she didn't object as she was led into the house. Her mother stopped in front of the stairs.

"You go rest for a while, ne? I'm going to go run this whole situation by Ojiichan, see if he knows the spiritual side of this," she winked at the last part of her sentence, smiling and leaving.

Kagome resisted the urge to call her back. She was so overwhelmed by all of this, it made her head feel heavy. She tiredly walked up the stairs leading to her room. How could this have happened? Why? How could _time_ mess up? She had always thought the well had worked for a purpose. For her to finish Kikyou's job as keeper of the Shikon no tama. What could be the purpose for her going back in her own era?

Opening the door with a heavy feeling of resignation in her chest she looked in. The only thing different was the extra amount of hello kitty related objects and…she noticed her big yellow backpack sitting in the corner of her room. She blinked, walking over to it and opening it up, pulling out her things. She looked at the expiration of one of the ramen packs. It would have been expired if she had ended up where she belonged. She stood up, walking over to her desk and putting all of the hello kitty items away in the drawer of her desk, so her room didn't have that weird combination of familiar and unfamiliar. She looked around the room again and set her clock for an hour, lying back against the pink covers of her bed…

s

s

s

A strange woman…Her image wavering and blurring in front of her eyes. It was a mask! That crime scene. Kagome turned away from the awful crime, this time the coverings that hid the atrocities that happened were gone. Blood. No head. That was the woman from earlier! Those people…Their bodies had been devoured by a youkai…

She felt an anger, a fierce determination to avenge them all of a sudden. She blinked when she felt a throbbing in her heart and her eyes blurred as she looked at the source of it. A small boy was standing near the edge of the crime scene. Her vision came back into focus. He had such a serious expression as he watched the crime scene. He ducked under the caution tape. A flash. Those eyes were wide with fear, the image was tinted purple in her mind. He was sweating, she could see more of the scene now. He was running, running as fast as he could.

That mask! It was chasing after him! Suddenly he tripped and that tiny boy…His eyes went, if possible, wider and blood… Blood… That crime scene. Blood. Death. Pain. Agony. He cried out and she watched as the light faded from his eyes.

s

s

s

Kagome's eyes opened. Her heart was pounding. She looked miserably around her room.

"What a bad dream…"

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Like I said. Coooookiiiiiie! The authors put cookies inside of the "review" button.


	3. Mask

(( Neither ThreeHoursOfSleep or Kinz.911 own Detective Conan, Magic Kaito, or Inuyasha))

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"...When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

-**Sir Arthur Conan** _(Sherlock Holmes)_  
_British mystery author & physician (1859 - 1930)_

**Kagome stepped onto the subway with her three friends.** It was taking some time getting used to the new time and being at least a year older than her friends. The subway was packed with people getting on, getting off, and waiting for their stop. The raven-haired girl sat down with her friends, Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka. The three were deeply involved with their own conversation. It was strange how much Kagome had grown up in the time she had been away. She had known it had to have happened, after all she had been going for a year. Her friends chatted nonstop about boys and up coming movies and the latest t.v. shows. Kagome did notice a new topic they seemed particularly fond of. A thief. He had been in the news. Kagome grimaced at the thought of all the fangirls that guy had. How could anyone like someone who steals as a hobby?

"I'm so worried about the next exam!" Yuka fretted.

"Exam?" Kagome blinked. Her friends blinked.

"Oh that's right! You haven't heard! We're taking our pre highschool exams next week!" Kagome blinked. She didn't remember taking that exam, even if she did, she probably had failed it anyway.

A bright side. She could concentrate on her schoolwork and get into a decent highschool, without the distraction of Inuyasha's and his annoying, persistent whine about school not being as important as looking for Shikon shards and killing Naraku.

School was her future, and everyone in Japan knew how important their future was. She had, had to decided upon her career when she was in fourth grade. How could he say school wasn't important? Last time she checked you needed a college degree to be veterinarian. And an archeologist. Both could only be achieved by earning that degree, which required school.

Everyone had been so shocked when she changed her choice of career. It was to be expected though, wasn't it? She had traveled back in time several times, even if to her family it was only a few short weeks, the career was made for her. She had, had a hard time deciding between archeology and a historian.

"Which movie should we see?" Eri was asking. "Ne, Kagome-chan, which movie would you like to see?"

"Eh?" the girl blinked. "I… I haven't really kept up with the movies, anything's fine, she grinned sheepishly.

"Of course you haven't!" Ayumi exclaimed, glaring at Eri. "You couldn't have with amnesia, you must have been focused on regaining your memories, ne?"

"A-Amnesia!?" Kagome blinked. "I never had… Jiichan…" A vein throbbed in her head.

"Kagome-chan! You're not having a relapse are you?" Yuka asked, putting a hand on Kagome's forehead. "Do get a fever from amnesia?" She blinked. Kagome sighed.

"No. You don't." An unfamiliar voice drifted past her ears. "Amnesia can be brought on by fever, but if you hit your head and get it. A fever will not follow." Kagome turned to face a small boy with over sized spectacles with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Him…" She breathed. It was the same boy from her dream.

"Eh?" The small boy blinked. "D-did I know you?" he asked. Kagome blushed and shook her head quickly.

"Gomen! I just thought you looked like my little cousin." She invented.

"But, Onesan, you sounded a little shocked when you saw me." He pointed out. "Did something happen to your cousin?" He inquired. Kagome blinked, this kid was sharp.

"Ah hai… he died last month in an accident." She fibbed expertly. "So it was a bit of a shock." The boy nodded in understanding.

"I'm sorry for your loss." He said politely.

"Kagome-chan! You didn't tell us it was a cousin!" Eri exclaimed.

"Eh?" Kagome blinked.

"You were out for a funeral last month!"

"W-was I?" Kagome was slightly grateful for the reasonable absence but then something became known in her mind. Her mom said she'd only been going to Senguku Jidai for a few weeks. Now she remembered, before the well she had been out for a funeral.

"It's the amnesia again!" Yuka said worriedly. "Kagome are you okay?"

"It's not." The boy answered for her. "If it was she would be experiencing a headache about now.

"He's right, it just slipped my mind." Kagome laughed nervously.

"How do you know so much?" Ayumi wanted to know of the little boy. He smiled with a look of childish innocence.

"I'm detective!" He said happily. The four girls blinked.

"Tantei…?" they inquired.

"Ne, tantei-kun, what's your name?" Yuka asked.

"Edogawa Conan!" Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi changed glances.

"I thought you looked familiar!" Yuka exclaimed. "You're the kid who's in the paper for stopping Kaitou Kid, ne?"

"A-ah… that's right." Conan blinked.

"Kawaii!" Ayumi hugged him.

"Conan-kun is quite the ladies man I see." A new voice came. Kagome looked up to see a tall blonde with brown eyes, he certainly wasn't bad to look at, apparently the other's thought so as well. Ayumi released Conan and he took a breath he probably hadn't been able to take while in her iron grip.

"Was he bothering you ladies?" The blonde asked. Kagome shook her head.

"Not at all." She watched as the guy grabbed Conan's hand and pulled him to a seat. She noticed a silver band on his left ring finger. He was married? But he couldn't have been more than eighteen!

"Conan-kun, I have something to take care of while we're in Beika, I hope you don't mind playing with your friends for a few hours." The blonde addressed him.

"Why would I mind that?" Conan blinked. "But, what do you need to do?"

"I have a case."

"What kind?"

The teenager sighed.

"Murder."

"I want to come!" Conan exclaimed.

"You can't come." The older decided.

"Demo Saguru-niiiichaaan!" Conan whined. The blonde, Saguru, sighed.

"Absolutely not."

Kagome watched them, the park the murder happened in was beika, the boy was wanting to investigate the crime scene with the pool of blood. She stood up.

"Kagome-chan, what are you doing? Our stop isn't until we reach Shibuya." Eri informed her.

"I just remembered! I forgot to feed my cat!" She lied.

"But subway is still moving."

"A-ah…" Kagome sat back down and waited for the subway to come to a stop in central Tokyo, which was not far from her family's shrine. She picked up her purse, bid her friends goodbye, and hurried off the subway. The girl ran as fast as she could back home, she didn't wait for the light to change when it turned red in stead she used the walkway overpass, which would save her time in the long run.

Kagome ran past the market place where people were eagerly purchasing the ingredients needed to make miso soup, Takayaki, and the most known dish in Japan, Curry for their evening dinners. She ran past the general store with two teenage workers, probably on break chatting happily.

She ran past her school and had to skid to a halt as she nearly plowed into a boy who was about to greet her.

'Great… I don't have time for him right now…' Kagome thought as she recognized Hojou.

"Ah Higurashi." He started. Kagome quickly side stepped him and continued on her way.

"Gomen Hojou-kun! I don't have time to talk right now!" She hurried away, leaving him to blink. Kagome saw the shrine coming into view and quickly dashed up the stairs, taking them three at a time.

"Ah Kagome!" Her mother greeted.

"Mama! I need a bow and arrow." She exclaimed. Her mother blinked and then shook her head.

"What on earth would you need one of those for?" She inquired. Kagome groaned.

"I don't have time to explain, please tell me where one is!" The teenager said desperately.

"Th-there should be one in the storage shed." The older woman informed her.

"Arigatou!" Kagome ran around the corner and pulled the shed open searching frantically for her weapon of choice, pottery, pottery, pottery, some sorts of relic, ah ha! A bow! And some arrows! The girl let out a triumphant noise and then left the shrine again, heading straight for Beika district.

Conan grinned, as any other seven-year-old boy, who had managed to escape their niichan in order to investigate a murder case, would. Therefore, his grin was slightly manic. Conan or better known to some as Kudo Shinichi, highschool detective of the east let out a sigh as he reached the area in question.

As one would expect, the park was closed off with yellow police tape, the one in charge of the investigation was, of course, inspector Megure. Conan looked around the scene closely, inspecting it's every detail. The body, which had been found with no head, had already been taken away and white masking tape now marked the position it had been in. A small pool of blood was where, about, the head was. Several miscellaneous articles of clothing were strung out near the large pool of blood. Shinichi then decided to find out what he could from the leading inspector, how he had had managed to trick Hakuba would give him at least another five minutes. Conan ducked under the police tape and ran up to the inspector.

"Megure-Keibu!" The little boy said happily. The large inspector looked down and recognized Conan almost immediately.

"Oh Conan-kun!" He bent down level with the boy. "It's been quite a while." He smiled at the younger.

"It really has!" The small boy chirped. "Ne, Keibu-san, what happened here?" Megure looked thoughtful for several, long, seconds.

"Murder, although we have no suspects, except for the man who found the body, he claims to have witnessed it but his story in not possible." He explained. "Shouldn't you be off playing?" Megure seemed to realize the child's age. Conan grinned sheepishly.

"I'm fine." He assured. "I'd much rather help you." He smiled at the inspector. Megure blinked and then shook his head.

"This kind of thing should not be investigated by kids. Run along and play with your friends."

"Demo!" Conan objected.

"Conan! You heard the inspector!" The familiar voice of the detective he used to live with rang in his ears.

"Ojisan?" Conan turned to face him. Mouri Kogoro glared down at the younger.

"You should know this is no place for a kid." He declared. Kogoro had gained a proper amount of respect from Shinichi, enough so that the young detective was actually happy to see him when he did, which was often. Kogoro had become a decent detective in Shinichi's book. But it was to be expected. Even if Ran and Hakuba were working it just wasn't enough to take care of two children and pay off a loan they had taken out to help pay for Conan's heart transplant several months ago. Kogoro had, had to shape up and jumping to conclusions so he could get the money to give to Ran and Hakuba to live off of, and he still needed his booze and cigarettes. Shinichi was not so proud of that factor.

"Gomen!" Conan started to back away to investigate some more on his own. He bumped into someone's legs. He looked up and found a not-so-thrilled Hakuba Saguru staring down at him.

"K-Koniichiwa?" Conan offered pathetically. Hakuba sighed and shook his head.

"You're grounded." He stated.

"From what?" Conan blinked. Hakuba eyed him.

"What are you always grounded from?" Conan sulked and Hakuba turned to the inspector.

"Sorry I'm late, Conan-kun pulled a small trick to get away." He gestured to the small boy. Conan glared and allowed the 'grown ups' to talk while he went and investigated the pool of blood more thoroughly. It was certainly blood. But where were the bodies? There was no sign that they were carried off, if that were the case the pool would smeared. The blood, in such large amount, still wasn't dry. Shinichi estimated it would dry up within the next three to four hours. Blood dried within thirty minutes, at room temperature for every 44cc. He touched it with his finger, getting an almost dry section.

Shinichi examined it closely. There was nothing strange about it, just that it was pooled near a merry-go-round in such large amount with only body several feet away. The other, smaller pool of blood, had since dried up.

"Inspector! The photo's have come in!" one of the forensics came up with an envelope, Shinichi was able to guess, was filled with crime scene photos.

"Ne! I want to see!" He snatched the photo away from the guy and examined it closely. He gasped.

"Oi!" The man objected. "Conan-kun!" Conan paid him no mind, staring in awe at the picture. It was of the body that had been found, the place where the spine connected with the cranium, and little below that looked, not as though it had been chopped off, but bitten off.

"Conan-kun..." Hakuba took the pictures away.

"A-ah!!" Conan tried to get them back. "I was looking at those!" He huffed. Hakuba shook his head.

"And you're supposed to be playing with your friends." He stated.

"I'll walk him over to the professors, and then come back." Mouri answered. Hakuba nodded.

"Arigatou Mouri-san." Hakuba started to look at the pictures, having the same reaction Conan had, had. Mouri made a nonverbal movement with his head to show Conan they were going now. Conan sighed and followed after him. Shinichi knew that if he refused, he'd be hit on the head, and that. Was painful.

Shinichi made the mental decision to return to the scene later, that evening, when his movements weren't restricted, either by apparent age or adult shooing him away. He pretended not to mind having to walk with Kogoro and chatted happily about useless things like soccer and Sherlock. Of course, these things weren't useless to Shinichi. Conan heard a steady sound of feet, running feet it sounded like. He turned around to face the same girl from the subway, if she was following him, she was doing a terrible job being discrete about it.

He then noticed she now carried a bow and arrow, a strange thing to be carrying around Tokyo.

"Onesan!" He said brightly as she stopped in front of him to catch her breath.

Kagome blinked and then noticed he was not with the same person he had been at first. She smiled at the small boy, unable to do anything else, due to her lack of breath.

"Did you know this girl?" The other man inquired the boy. Conan looked up and nodded.

"I met her on the subway!" He said happily. "Demo… she didn't have a bow and arrow with her then." Kagome smiled sheepishly.

"I had archery practice, and I live around here." She lied.

"If that's the case." Kogoro started. "Be sure not to be around here after hours." he advised.

"Hai! I will!" She smiled at the much older man. "Ne, Conan-kun, I wanted to tell you to not come near here again." he blinked.

"Eh? Doushite?"

"It's very dangerous, you heard what happened to the teenagers last night."

"A-ah… but why are you warning me? I live on the edge of Tokyo. Not in Beika… anymore." He added. Kagome blinked and then shook her head.

"Even then, you said you were a detective ne? How about you leave this to police, and don't come back at night either." Conan seemed shocked, probably wondering how in the world she knew he'd be back at night.

"H-how did you…"

"I-.." She couldn't very well admit that it was in her dream could she? They'd lock her up and ship her off to a loony bin. Not something she needed. "It's just a feeling." She decided. Conan looked thoughtful for several seconds, his expression all too readable.

"Okay Onesan! I won't!" He clearly lied. Apparently the older realized the fib as well.

"I'll be telling Saguru about your evening plans." He stated.

"Ne, Onesan, what's you name?" Conan wanted to know of Kagome.

"Higurashi Kagome desu." She smiled. "W-well… I had better get to archery practice." She straightened up nervously. "Ja ne Conan-kun!" She said happily, turning and walking in the opposite direction.

Kagome let out a sigh as soon as she was out of earshot. She'd have watch the park all night if she had too. She had to keep that horrible dream from coming true.

Night fell and Kagome was anxiously pacing the outside region of the park, waiting. She knew that if he was indeed coming from Tokyo he would be coming from the west side, there fore she paced the east side to avoid being seen. She could hear the pitter patter of small, child, sized feet. He must have found someway away from his niichan's clutches. She hid behind hind a tree and noticed the noise had not been Conan, but another person, a boy yes, but this boy was about Souta's age. She sighed, children really didn't pay much attention to curfew, did they?

Kagome leaned against the tree, maybe Conan had heeded her warning, if not maybe his niichan knew exactly how the young boy worked, and was able to keep from leaving the house.

"Ah.. I know… just cover for me. Ja matte!" She heard the detective tone he had used while explaining about the amnesia on the subway. Conan was here now. She watched him closely as the boy picked his skateboard up and ducked under the tape that read 'Do not cross' in black bolded letters. Kagome let out a silent sigh and followed after him.

Shinichi looked around the crime scene with new freedom. No adult to shoo him away now. And he was sure that the culprit would come back to admire his, 'perfect' crime, Which would undoubtedly be the man's undoing. Shinichi approached the now dried pool of blood and looked around. He then noticed a piece of paper sitting a under a rock. The culprit had already been here. He sighed and then walked over to the sheet of paper, he lifted the rock and looked down at a blue print for a nearby construction site. Some blood was smeared on a section. Shinichi folded the paper up and shoved it in his pocket. He then set his skateboard down and headed off in the direction of the construction site in question. This paper was a notice. He just knew it.

Kagome's jaw dropped. That was one fast skateboard. Where in the world had he gotten that thing? Last she checked they didn't go -that- fast. Then she remembered her mission.

"Matte! Conan-kun!" But it was far too late. He was gone, completely out of ear shot. Now how was she supposed to save him from a horrible fate? Damn it why couldn't she drive? Her mind then reminded her she wasn't eighteen.

"Oh." She breathed aloud and then shook her head. She'd have to follow the dust trail Conan left behind for her, before it started to fade. The girl took off at a run. The scary thing was, she knew exactly what demon it was, the really scary thing was that, last time she had, had Inuyasha to kill it. Now she'd have to do it on her own. She could remember where it had stored the shards, maybe if she got them out everything would be okay.

A new thought occurred as she continued to run after the little boy. Why hadn't she met him before? The only logical answer filled her head and she pushed away. He must have been killed in the past. If that were the case Kagome was going to be sure to change his future. Kagome then decided she should probably think about how to save Conan and kill the demon, while coming out of everything unscathed. That last part might not be possible, she realized.

Shinichi reached the construction sight and looked around, eyeing the detail of every little thing. He walked quietly across the site, pausing only when he found traces of dried blood on the ground. A sudden chill ran down his back and looked up. Someone was watching him. Conan spun around quickly to see who it was. His eyes fell on a mass of, what looked like dead bodies, all connected together as one, a Noah mask sat atop the display. Shinichi shivered. How had this gotten here? It wasn't there before. He stood up slowly. What was this, some sort of sick science experiment? He set his skateboard down and slowly walked toward the… what ever it was. He felt a sense of foreboding as he got closer. He could feel someone's eyes on him, but he couldn't tell where it was coming from. He shivered again, ignoring the part of his brain that was desperately trying to get him to turn away from it.

'Baka!' His mind screamed. 'Don't you get it? That wasn't a notice that was an invitation to be the next victim!'

Suddenly the Noah mask looked at him. Shinichi froze. He must have gone insane. He shook his head and looked again. No, it was definitely staring at him with hungry eyes. He felt himself take involuntary step backwards. His body was recognizing the danger and was starting to fight back, much like suicidal people's body's do before they kill themselves.

"What in the…?"

"I need more bodies…" The thing had a voice? Shinichi was sure he had gone insane now. Not that his body cared, it was now carrying him as fast as it could towards the stairs.

"Matte…" It's eerie voice called him back. 'Yeah right!' Thought Shinichi, 'listening to your hallucinations is good way to get killed!' He climbed up the stepped as fast as possible. Luckily the thing was too large and it couldn't climb the steps. Shinichi sighed as he reached the second story. Now… how to get away? Suddenly something made the structure rattle. The mask had latched it's massive teeth into an I-beam and was pulling itself to his level.

"Shimata!" Shinichi cursed, getting his suspenders and latching them on to a different I-beam. He then made sure he had a firm grip before starting to descend. Something shook him as he realized his hallucination had hold of I-beam he was on and flung him skywards, opening its mouth for Conan to fall in. Hallucinations couldn't do that. That meant that this… this thing was real! Suddenly a purple light streaked beneath him and shot half of the mask off the large monster. It closed its mouth to see who had caused the disturbance in its meal just as Conan hit the ground with a loud thump. It took him several seconds and one too late to remember the I-beam had also been flung upwards.

"Itai!" He hollered as the metal object fell on his small leg, crushing it. Another streak of purple went above his head and knocked the monster backwards. Apparently it had tried to eat him while his back was turned. Shinichi desperately tried to shove the I-beam off but it seemed to be of no use. He then looked up to see who had saved his life. It was that girl from earlier.

"Onesan!" He called out. "Run!" He then noticed she was armed with a bow, with an arrow aimed at the horrible monster. She fired another arrow and quickly reloaded.

"You leave him alone!" She demanded. The thing looked at Conan and then started to crawl toward Kagome.

"Bodies…" It said. Kagome was about to shoot it again but it's head lashed out and bit into her arm.

"Itai!" Kagome winced. She couldn't help but think about how the exact same thing had happened to Inuyasha, just as the thought filled her mind a blast of purple light shot out of her and the creature burst into nothing but dust. Kagome took several deep breaths. If she had known to do that the first time around, she never would have depended on Inuyasha. Her heart saddened at the thought of never seeing them again. She then remembered Conan and shook her head, rushing over to get the metal structure piece off of him. It was surprising easy. Her work out in the Senguku Jidai had really made her strong. Conan crawled out and then looked at his injured and rapidly swelling leg.

It didn't take a doctor to tell it was broken. Kagome knelt down and scooped him up in her arms. The boy seemed to find this awkward as he started to squirm and blush. He stopped squirming when he hurt himself though.

"You need a doctor." Kagome said decidedly. Conan didn't like idea.

"Onesan! Can't you take me home? I'm fine it doesn't hurt anymore!" He tried. Kagome blinked but did pay it any mind. Why did little boys have to play it tough?

"Your leg's broken. You need to see a doctor." She countered.

"Demo! I go to the hospital too often! Ran-neechan and Saguru-niichan can't afford another trip! Onegai!" Kagome stopped for several seconds. Somehow it wasn't surprising this child was in and out of the hospital.

"Then I'll pay for it." She said brightly, continuing on her way. Conan objected to this as well.

"You can't!" Kagome seemed indifferent to his pleas.

"I owe it to you, I wasn't able to save you faster." She stated as she reached the hospital. Conan gave a defeated sighed and pulled out his cellphone, speed dialing, probably home.

"K-Konbanwa Saguru-niichan…" Conan said, as Kagome set him in a chair so she could fill out paper work. She sat down next to him, she could hear the angry voice on the other end.

"Conan?!" It demanded. No use of the honorific 'kun.' This boy was in serious trouble. Kagome finished all the paperwork she could, asking Conan about things as she had too and paid for everything as she had promised to do.

"Well Conan-kun, I better get home before I get in trouble." She smiled and winked. "Get better soon!" She walked out the door.

"Matteo!" Shinichi called after her as she disappeared into the night. Who was that mysterious girl? Maybe, when he could walk again, he'd go find her. He had her name. _Higurashi Kagome_…

* * *

((Yeah… that's the longest chapter I've ever written on my own… and in the original there was a little bit more too it. It was just Hakuba talking to the doctor though.)) 


	4. Nightmare

(Yes. This is a most angsty chapter. We do not own the characters or anything else like that, we're actually kidnapping them and torturing them…And we're not schizophrenic…Often. Mwahahahaha! Okay. Enough. On to chapter three.)

* * *

"I guess that's how death works. It doesn't matter if we're ready or not. It just happens."

-Randy K. Milholland

**THUMP!** Kagome hit her alarm clock, rolling over and burrowing deeper into the comfort of her warm, cozy bed. Yes. This was the best place to stay. Her dreams were okay now…Not nightmarish at all, except for the admittedly nightmarish presence of Geometry…Yes. Bed was safe.

"Mmmm…"She sighed contentedly.

The door to her room swung open and hit the wall with a thud. "Neechan! We have to hurry or we're going to be late!"

Kagome sat up, her eyes snapping open at the sudden loudness in her room. "E-Eh?" She jumped out of bed, running over to her closet. "Why didn't you tell me baka?!"

"You told me that you were ready!" exclaimed Souta defensively.

"I did not!" Kagome snapped in annoyance, pulling out her school uniform.

"Yes you did, you should just wake up when I talk to you!" exclaimed Souta, obviously feeling guilty and trying to move the blame off himself.

"I have to change baka. Get. Out." Kagome shoved him out quickly. She pulled her pajamas off over her head, slipping into her skirt and pulling on her shirt. She hopped on one foot to the bathroom as she put on a sock, grabbing her toothbrush, applying the toothpaste and brushing. Kagome succeeded in putting on both socks and focused all her attention on brushing her teeth.

She had stayed up late thinking about Conan. He was very smart for a kid, but there was something weird about him. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she knew it was there.

"Neeechaaaaaaan!" Souta burst in.

"Whaaaat?!" Kagome whined through a mouth full of tooth paste suds.

"Ugh!" he drew back from his rabid looking sister.

"Ack!" Kagome gargled and spit, wiping off her face."I'm hurrying! It takes a second!"

"Demo!"

Kagome washed her face quickly, running past Souta and out of the room.

"Eh?" he blinked for a second. "Matte!" He ran out as well.

"Kagome!"

Kagome stopped, "Mama?"

Her mother handed her a metallic box. "You almost forgot your lunch." She smiled.

"And Kagome, don't you worry about this whole time thing! We'll take care of it!" said her grandfather cheerily, walking up.

"Arigatou!" Kagome chirped, taking her lunch and running.

* * *

"Whew…That was close," sighed Kagome, sinking into her chair. The gates had closed right after she got in.

"Did you sleep in, Higurashi-san?" inquired Houjo politely.

"A-Ah!" Kagome said, looking embarrassed.

"It must be because you're sick so often, your body needs time to heal," he said jovially. "Here. I got you something." The boy held out a pair of sandals. "Therapeutic. Please take them, I hope you'll like them." He smiled.

Kagome took them politely. "Arigatou…"

'I knew it…He wants to go out with me again. And I bet you Yuka, Eri and Ayumi…'

"-not busy this Saturday, you know, with doctor's appointments or anything…"

Eri, Ayumi and Yuka were suddenly next to her.

Kagome blinked, "A-Ano…" She thought about it. It's not like she had Inuyasha anymore…And…Houjo-kun had always been nice to her…But he was so…Boring. Kagome blinked. Why had she thought that? How shallow! But he was…Her mind said sullenly.

"Hai!" she smiled at him. He beamed.

"You won't regret it Higurashi-san! This Saturday, right?"

"Mm!"

She needed someone stable, someone caring and kind. Even if he was boring… Kagome sighed inside her mind.

Mr. Makoto walked in and everyone got in their seats.

* * *

"Kagome, you didn't tell us Houjo-kun had an interest in you!" said Yuka, nudging her cheerfully.

"I haven't had a lot of time…" said Kagome quietly. It wasn't a lie. She _hadn't _had a lot of time.

"When will be expecting children?" teased Eri.

Kagome blinked, blushing, "Do you really think I would have kids this early?"

"Eh? You're embarrassed over the children instead of suggesting with Houjo-kun?" asked Yuka, wide eyed.

"Iie!"

"Well I think it's good you found a sweet boy like him! And so fast! You could be like lovers since childhood!" Ayumi gushed.

"Most of the time you can't find one that isn't full of it…Which is why you should stick to reading romance novels like Ayumi-chan," said Yuka.

"But don't let it go to your head," said Eri behind her hand with a small, sisterly laugh.

Kagome smiled.

"So…Are we doing anything today?" asked Kagome.

"I don't know actually," said Eri, she turned to the others, "What do you guys wanna do?"

Yuka shrugged, "I'm open to whatever, today's good for anything."

A drop of water hit Kagome's hand. She blinked, looking up, clouds were starting to form.

"Hmmm…." Eri thought aloud.

"Whatever it is though…It should probably be inside," Kagome spoke up.

Ayumi blinked. "I know what we can do!"

"Hm?" They all looked at her.

"We should go look at the new exhibit in the art museum! I heard it's very pretty!" Ayumi smiled brightly.

"It's just like you to suggest that. But…An art museum exhibit actually sounds nice!" said Yuka.

"Then it's decided?" asked Eri.

"Mm!" Kagome agreed.

* * *

"Sugoi!" said the three girls at once.

Kagome tried to ignore the feeling of separation from the other three girls, but it wouldn't go away. They were European artists, beautiful pictures of women and children for the most part.

This one _was _very pretty, she had to admit, what with the gentle curves of the woman's face, the light at just the right angle, the long white cloth falling gently to the ground and the eyes that captivated, looking proud and strong and beautiful and gentle all at once and…reminding her of Kikyou.

Her hair was blonde, so it shouldn't have…But that look in her eye reminded her so much of Kikyou that it unnerved her. Kagome sighed.

"Ne, Kagome? Why are you sighing?" asked Eri. "Don't you like it?"

"Hai! I do…It's just…I'm kind of tired," said Kagome, moving for the nearest excuse. "Gomen…"

"Eh? It's only-EH? It's almost six o'clock! We have to go!" Eri exclaimed.

* * *

"Arigatou!" Kagome chirped.

"We'll see you on Sunday Kagome-chan!" Eri smiled.

"Hai!"

Ayumi and Yuka smiled, waving as they left.

Kagome turned to the stairs that led up to her shrine, starting to walk up, watching the scenery as she did.

The sun was setting, dipping beneath the dark silhouettes that marked the presence of trees. Gold, pink and purple formed the sky, the sun was red. She blinked. A red sun? What did that remind her of? She was reminded so strongly of something. What was it?

Stars…A light drifting away. Her eyebrows furrowed as she continued to walk up. It seemed so familiar…Why wouldn't that thought go away? She sighed, shaking her head. Maybe it was some sort of back up from going back in time. It didn't matter anyway. She was home! She smiled cheerfully, running over to the house.

Suddenly she felt a blinding pain on the back of her head and she hit the ground. Hard. "Itai!" she moaned. "Doushite no?"

Her vision was blurred.

"You shouldn't get involved with a little gaki," said a deep voice. She cried out when he grabbed a handful of her hair, tugging her head up. He forced a pill in her mouth and then water to make it go all the way down.

"Good night Onna."

Her vision blurred more as she felt a burning sensation on her bones. It grew worse and worse, her bones…They felt like they were melting. The pain was overwhelming. She couldn't hold up anymore. Her vision darkened and she finally passed out.

* * *

Kaitou Kid, illusive phantom thief, ultimate ladies man and criminal mastermind grinned to himself as he sailed smoothly over Tokyo on his hang glider. Nothing like a victory flight to cheer up a person. Honestly, he couldn't believe how easy that had been without Hakuba there. Mouri-san had apparently taken ill and needed help with their newborn son, normally that wouldn't have been enough, because normally the blonde detective would have relayed instructions to the Kid TASK force through his telephone, however, he was too busy looking for a certain midget detective who had run off out of nowhere. For _once _the little detective had been a good thing for him.

Kaito could barely contain his glee. Yes, tonight had been a wonderful night. Especially since Aoko had been there to see the great Kaito Kid in action. Yes. She'd probably think he was a sight to see now if she saw the way the moonlight shined down on him. She was such a hopeless romantic, and quite frankly, he was irresistible _without _the moonlight.

Suddenly Kaito sniffed. "Hm?" It smelt like fire…he looked around for the source of it. He spotted it. His eyes widened at the sight of the building. Flames roared angrily, devouring the building which looked like a shrine, the fire's hunger could not be quenched as it licked at the sky, trying to take in as much as it could. He was surprised there weren't any fire trucks around.

Without a second thought he swooped down to the scene, landing on his feet, the hang glider retreating back to its original position. It looked pretty bad. What could it be? He should probably call the police now. Suddenly he noticed something from the corner of his eyes, a small lump, shifting slightly.

He turned to face it. It was a small girl with a shock of dark hair, blood leaking slightly from a wound on her head. But what caught his attention was her clothes. They were too big. Like ones that a high school girl would wear. He knew he couldn't leave her here. He would have to take her to see tantei-kun. But chances are he had run off to that girl's house. He made a face, he didn't like that girl very much. With a sigh of resignation, he pulled out his cell phone. That's when he heard the sirens.

He glared off in the direction of the sirens and picked up the tiny victim, extremely annoyed now. That was just great. Kaito Kid fleeing from an arson site and taking her to straight to where Haibara Ai was.

No. He'd have to sneak out in disguise. He went over to the edge of the shrine, quickly using his disguising abilities to look just like a member from the Kid TASK force, though they had tightened up security about that, by the way, and sneaking down the side, in cover of the trees. He would need to be careful, because no doubt the police would be covering the area around the scene for about a block. And he doubted that walking up carrying a hurt, ashy looking child in Kid TASK force-guise was probably the best idea if he wanted it to be a secret that he had gone here.

Kaito made his way down the hill and past the cops silently until the girl suddenly made a weak, grumbling noise. He froze. If she woke up…He knew exactly what would go through a girl's mind. An older man is holding her and sneaking through the dark…For some reason her clothes are unexplainably loose. PERVERT! SMACK! He was dead… Kaito watched in fear until finally she was quiet again. He sighed a breath of relief, the rest of the trip was uneventful, because everyone seemed to be sleeping or too deeply involved with finding out what was going on at the shrine to care about the man who slipped past holding a tiny, sleeping girl.

Buzzzzzzz. Buzzzzzzzz.

"Who is this?" asked the cold voice of Haibara Ai.

"I brought something for tantei-kun," said Kaito in his trademark Kid voice.

Haibara raised her eyebrows, intrigued, she turned back to Conan. His eyes were wide as well, the same intrigued look on his face. Haibara turned back to the intercom.

"Come in."

When the door opened and revealed Kaito, the effect would have been far less without his billowing cape and gleaming monocle, if it weren't for Kagome draped across his arms, wearing what looked like a brightly colored dress but what was in reality a group of large scarves.

Conan's eyes widened, his mouth opening surprise, instantly able to recognize the tiny form. In fact…She had dominated much of his thoughts lately. He had come here tonight to discuss with Haibara the possibility of APTX 4869 causing hallucinations and maybe osteoporosis, but neither had turned out to be true, meaning that what happened at the construction site had been true. Both because of Haibara's explanation and the simple explanation that Kagome was right here.

"That's…" he said in shock.

Haibara looked from him to the girl, looking mildly amused and mildly curious.

"So by your astonished face, I'm going to assume you know her," said Kaito.

"A-Ah…Either that or she looks remarkably like her," murmured Conan dazedly. He seemed to come back into focus. "What happened? Where did you find her?"

"Next to a burning shrine," said Kaito. "With these on." He held up a pile of clothes.

"Her school uniform," observed Conan. "Wait a second…Did you change her?" For some reason Conan seemed extremely annoyed.

"I couldn't go walking around with a girl in too big clothes," said Kaito simply.

"Then stuff her in a bag or something! Why'd you need to change her?" Conan demanded.

Haibara and Kaito blinked.

"Why are _you_ so annoyed by that?" asked Kaito curiously.

"Because she's probably already going to be traumatized and now she'll feel violated as well," said Conan quickly.

"That thought never came to my mind. How did _you_ come up with such an idea?"

Conan seethed, turning away and thinking.

"Haibara." He turned to her. "You don't think it's them-"

"I destroyed all the evidence Kudo-kun." Said Haibara shortly, staring at him coldly. "Do you doubt this?"

"I-Iie…Who else could be behind this?" he asked her.

Haibara ignored the question. "She'll need somewhere to stay and she'll need an alias."

Shinichi's eyes narrowed, "Haibara. You're avoiding the subject."

"You aren't ready to know yet," said the scientist coolly.

"If someone is using the poison that was used on me then-"

"I told you I destroyed all the evidence," she interrupted him shortly.

"Well someone is using a poison like-"

"There was no poison."

"Then what was it?!" shouted Shinichi, turning to her, looking furious.

Kaito coughed politely to get their attention back. "I think she's waking up." He set the girl down on the couch.

….

She could hear talking in the black of her mind…against the silence. She recognized one of the voices. 'Co..Conan-kun?' she thought blearily. Her eyes opened to the brightness of the room, she winced, drawing back a little, blinking.

Where was she? A small group of people were standing around the room. A place with large windows…She was lying on a couch.

"Kagome-oneesan!" The small dark haired boy said with a childish voice, walking quickly over to her.

"Conan-kun?" she asked in confusion. "Where am I?" She suddenly blinked, putting a hand up to her mouth. She sounded…strange. Her voice was higher, and smaller. What was going on?

"You're at Haibara-san's house!" he said helpfully. He seemed strange, as if he was…almost…lying about something. Or avoiding the subject of something.

"Kudo-kun. You shouldn't try to protect her," said a voice. A small blonde girl. She sounded so serious, looked it to. What was going on?

"Ch-Chotto! Kudo-kun?" she questioned, turning to Conan.

"Hai. Kudo Shinichi," said Haibara, walking back over to Kagome and holding out a mirror. "Higurashi Kagome."

Kagome took it and looked into the mirror.

"E-Eh?!" It showed a little girl with large blue eyes and dark hair that fell messily around her shoulders. Her nose was smaller as were her ears, it looked like a five year old Kagome. "S-So this mirror shows you ten years younger?" she laughed nervously. The tiny girl looked up at her fearfully.

"Iie. It shows how you are now," said the blonde girl.

Kagome stared at her. "So this is where the other me went!" she exclaimed.

Everyone blinked, staring at her, including the calm looking blonde.

"N-No…?" she questioned.

"That's your reflection," said Conan-Er Shinichi- or Conan or…the boy from her dream. "It may seem hard to believe at first, but it's the truth," he said seriously.

Kagome's eyes widened, he was using that voice he had used to explain the amnesia thing. Was it really true? "But how?" she asked numbly.

It was apparent that Kagome had hit a point of debate, because he spared an annoyed look to the blonde. "We don't know yet, but you can't tell anyone. If whoever made you this was trying to kill you and were to find out, they could bring your family and friends into it as well to keep everyone quiet."

Kagome looked at him in shock. "Demo…I didn't witness anything. I don't even know what happened to me, all I know is I was hit over the head and fed a-Chotto!" the girl looked panicked. "The man said something before I fell…He said I shouldn't get involved with a gaki…"

Conan's eyes widened. 'Gaki…'

"First thing is first. Higurashi-san can no longer be Higurashi-san. She must have a new name," said Haibara. "What name would you like?"

"I…" She couldn't think of a new name right now…She could barely wrap her head around the concept that she had turned into a five year old. "I don't know…"

"May I make a suggestion, Higurashi-san?" Kaito asked politely.

"Mm," said Kagome.

"Nakamura Yumi," said Kaito. "Yumi being for obvious reasons," Kagome blushed prettily, living up to the name's meaning, "And Nakamura because it doesn't stick out so badly with the surname Nakamori, the surname of the person I think you're best suited to be with in your child form."

"Nakamori…That's the name of the head of the Kid TASK force. Are you intending to keep an eye on her?" Conan spoke up.

"That and I take the daughter's father away so often, she probably would enjoy the company," said Kaito.

He looked at Kagome. "Does that work for you?"

"H-Hai…" Kagome agreed quietly. Why did she suddenly feel so lonely? "I can still see my family though, can't I?"

There was silence. The shrine had been burnt down. Who knew if her family had even been alive when it had? The chances of them being intact were low. Haibara suddenly couldn't keep her mind off of Akemi.

"You should rest for now Higurashi-san, tomorrow no doubt will be long for you," said Kaito.

"Will I be able to!" Kagome suddenly demanded, her mind full of her family.

"The technique of many murderers is to kill and burn the building they were in to the ground," said Shinichi.

Kagome's heart raced, a painful feeling washing over her, it filled the room. She felt as if she was under water."Wh-What?" she asked, terrified, her voice at barely a whisper.

"You can't see them because…They aren't here anymore." His eyes met hers gravely. There was a silence. She felt as if she was drowning.

"I-I'm ready to go…" she said softly, her eyes feeling hot. She felt numb. She couldn't grasp anything Shinichi had said. She couldn't hold anything. It slipped through her hands like water. She couldn't think. Didn't want to think. It couldn't have happened. He was lying! There was no way! She was having a nightmare again. It was all a horrible nightmare. It would go away in a little while. She just wanted to go home. Or away from here. Wherever she went. So long as she woke up to Souta whining at her for sleeping in, her mother handing her lunch and her grandfather trying to solve a mystery that was beyond his level of understanding.

She didn't feel when Kaito picked her up. She didn't see the regretful expression on Conan's face. Couldn't tell that he felt it was his fault because she had helped him when he ran off in the middle of the night and someone…hadn't liked that.

She barely felt when they flew off. Didn't see the city lights. Couldn't feel the wind on her face. She couldn't absorb it. It didn't register to her when they landed in front of the place where she would be staying from then on. She didn't care that he had left and she didn't care that the girl he had given to her was concerned and kind to her.

The girl took her to a room. Kagome brushed past her, not listening to her rambling. She fell numbly on her bed, only wanting to sleep, wanting to wake up from her nightmare. Tomorrow she would. Tomorrow everything would be different. She didn't feel the t-shirt offered for her to change into in her hands. She didn't hear the girl's explanation.

All she could hear was his voice. Those words. That nightmare.

* * *

So yah. That was the end to chapter three. Reviews make my heart beat. And...they make me feel very generous on the cookie-giving-factor. Winkwinknudgenudge. 


	5. Mercury Retrograde

((Don't own Detective Conan or Inuyasha))

Chapter 4

Mercury Retrograde

"What's wrong, whats wrong now?

Too many, too many problems.

Don't know where she belongs, where she belongs.

She wants to go home, but nobody's home.

That's where she lies, broken inside.

With no place to go, no place to go, to dry her eyes.

Broken inside."

-**Avril Lavigne** (Nobody's Home)

"**Is Yumi-chan there?" **

Aoko blinked, turning to look at the dark haired girl who sat quietly over by the television. That really was quite a question he was posing. She looked so frail; it made you wonder if there was enough in her to be considered truly there. Maybe if this boy were to talk to her she would cheer up.

"Hai, dare desu ka?"

"Edogawa Conan," the boy answered quickly.

"Chotto matte kudasai." Aoko set down the phone on the counter and walked over to where Yumi sat, absorbed in the TV. She was watching the news by the look of it, it was some story about a shrine that had been burnt down. 'Kawaii sou…' It seemed like a sad story, and apparently Yumi seemed to think so as well, but the strange thing was the shock that so heavily burdened her shoulders, instead of looking slightly pitying or angry or a little sad she looked pale, her eyes wide and shining. She looked like she was about to cry. Aoko made a mental note to not let her watch the news anymore.

"Yumi-chan," said Aoko gently.

She looked over, as if pulled out of a reverie, her eyes still shining. She rubbed them quickly. "Nani?"

"There's a boy on the phone for you," the teenager said cheerfully.

"A-Ah…Arigatou," the girl went over to the phone, picking it up as Aoko went back to the kitchen to finish cleaning the countertops.

"Moushi moushi?" a female voice said softly. She sounded dazed and her voice had a slight wince to it, as if her thoughts were painful.

"You saw the news." Shinichi stated. 'Shit.' He had hoped to reach her before she had, but he could tell by the way she spoke that there was no way she hadn't seen it.

"Hai…" she said quietly. There was a heartbreaking silence on her end of the line. She probably wanted to cry.

Shinichi's heart panged in sympathy. "Kagome-san…" He had no idea what to say, knowing that he hadn't made it in time.

"Daijobu. It's not as if my friends haven't suffered before. I don't see why it should bother me," her voice started out trying to sound casual but then grew thicker and higher at the same time as she plowed her way through the sentence.

"They wouldn't want me to cry!" Kagome's voice was wobbly and she sounded a little hysterical. She was about to cry, he could tell. Aoko looked up at the noise.

"Kagome-san…"

"Gomen ne. That girl is listening, I have to go," said Kagome quietly.

He should have told her to wait. Should have told her if she needed someone to talk to she could call him. But he didn't. She hung up.

Shinichi hung up as well. He'd have to check up on her again later.

The day passed sluggishly for Kagome. It seemed as if she was constantly being bombarded by memories when she opened her eyes. Everything reminded her of them. The tiniest things she would notice, the silliest things that should have been of no consequence nearly made her break down into tears.

That girl, whose name she still couldn't remember, had stayed home from school today to spend it with her and help her get situated. Kagome only numbly helped, not really wanting to get situated, only wanting to go home. But she had no home. Only ashes would do for her, or so the fates had decided.

As the day went on Kagome gave in and pretended to be cheerful for the girl so she wouldn't be worried. She didn't like making people who cared about her worry, but on the inside she was still agonizing over her family.

Towards the end of the day a boy came wearing a school uniform and Kagome was assaulted with the memory of her grandfather wishing they still wore traditional robes. It was strange how the memory struck Kagome as amusing and yet it could still make her heart ache. Why? Why did it have to happen to her? Why did she have to go back in time just to watch her family die? Why?! It made no sense! What had she ever done to deserve this?!

And she couldn't even go to her own school anymore. She couldn't turn to anyone for comfort. They were all gone. Maybe…Maybe the well still worked! Maybe the fire hadn't reached it and she…She could go back and find Inuyasha and Sango and Miroku! And she could cry…Though her family wouldn't want her to…She deserved a good cry! But not until she found them. Not until she could be with them.

Day turned to night and Kagome met the girl's father. The girl turned out to be named Aoko. Kagome didn't care all that much, except now she didn't have to refer to her as Neechan all the time. As Kagome was taken up to bed with the cheerful Aoko, who was apparently happy to have the company from what she could tell, Kagome wondered absently about that Shinichi guy. Not that it mattered really; it was only a passing thought.

Kagome sighed as she stared at the ceiling of her new bedroom, trying to fall asleep. And failing miserably. Really she did feel miserable and it should have been motivation to sleep but thoughts of her day continued to jab at her mind over and over until she felt almost sore. Right now she hated the night and the way it continually filled her head with doubts and denial and she just couldn't turn away.

She finally came up with a solution. She had to go back to the shrine. It was easy enough. She needed to see it. Had to know the truth, even if secretly she already did. Kagome got out of bed, swinging her legs over the side and plopping down to the ground. She noted distantly how amusing it was that she actually fell a few inches before her feet hit the ground.

The shrunken girl didn't bother putting on her shoes as she moved to the window. It was stupid. It was reckless. She could fall over the edge. But she didn't want to risk being caught before she got out. Kagome unlocked the window and slid it open. A warm wind hit her face, she could feel it on her skin through the cloth of her pajamas.

She didn't even have shoes. They were downstairs next to the door. This was a stupid idea. It really was. But then again…The shrine…Her family…Kagome looked out of the window into the starry night, the moon shining down full and bright, enough to make it feel almost like daytime. There! A tree. Kagome stretched out to reach the dark piece of shrubbery near the corner of her window.

"AIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!" Kagome cried out as she nearly fell reaching for the tree. Damn tree. Being so far away. She clutched to the tree, waiting in silence to see if anyone had woken up at her shrill cry.

After what felt like a paralyzing eternity Kagome loosened her grip a little, carefully inching her way over to the trunk, instead of clinging to the branch. The branches were rough under her hands, which were sweating. She looked down. It was quite a way down. Kagome swallowed. She wasn't necessarily afraid of heights, but being out in the middle of the night with no one to catch her if she were to fall from said height, especially being her size, was none too appealing.

Slowly and carefully Kagome made her way down the trunk of the tree, certain that at any moment the occupants of the household would come running out and would drag her back inside and refuse to let her see the light of day ever again, let alone her burnt down house. But she made it down without interference.

She stood in the lawn for a moment, suddenly exhausted. Spent emotionally and physically. Everything. Everything was…gone…wasn't it? Kagome shook her head, trying to get rid of it as she ran off, trying desperately to look for a sign of where she was, searching to find the way back to her home…But that thought still remained engraved in her mind, like an image burned into your retinas because it was too bright.

The city stretched out as Kagome ran, her eyes frantically reading the signs. She had figured out she was in Tokyo and could find her way back from here. She had a fantastic sense of direction from being in the sengoku jidai and was armed with a feeling that coursed through her veins that she was forcefully ignoring.

No one noticed the tiny five year old making her way down the street and it was probably better this way. Kagome's mind was only on going home, the same thought repeated itself with each pound of her feet on the ground. At one point in time during the day Kagome's objective had changed from seeing if the well was undamaged to seeing that the entire thing had actually happened, her heart was in limbo, refusing to feel anything until she was absolutely sure…sure that…

The area around her was steadily growing more and more familiar. It was surreal; she had seen this place at night not that long ago. The grocery store where she had taken Inuyasha-the idiot had tried to take at least two year's worth of ramen-moved past. The Wacdonald where she and her friends used to go when they wanted a serious conversation (talking intensely has to burn carbs) disappeared behind her. That little herb shop on the corner where her grandfather would exchange talk about herbal properties. Kagome ran faster, trying to escape and yet run to the place her mind was on.

The park by the elementary school where she had played when she was 8.The elementary school itself where Souta went to school, her throat was tightened to the point of suffocating. She stumbled a little but continued running as his school was swept behind her. Yuka's house. She'd gone there once or twice, but Yuka's parents were awkward, in a way she couldn't really decipher. Gone. Eri's house was closer. Comfortable, warm and safe. She thought she saw Eri's shape in a window as it was swept away.

Her own school came into view. Kagome wanted to stop so desperately, but her feet were moving too fast now, she couldn't stop or she'd trip and…she needed to go home where she belonged. She would never see anyone from school again, would she? Rows of houses followed that Kagome knew were familiar but she had nothing specific to attach them. The people from her school were like that. She wanted to stay with them because they were familiar and she was clinging to whatever was familiar at this point.

Kagome was still running, but her heart's beating became less frantic as she came closer to home, unconsciously, even though it may not be the same, and even though she was scared at seeing it…All her life she had loved her home and no matter what situation she was in, she had always felt safe if there was home. She had been pulled into the well by a youkai and when she had emerged from the well all traces of fear disappeared knowing she could find her way home

And now…It was the same. There was the hill leading to her house. The tiny girl ran up the steps, moonlight in her hair, blue against the sky, the steps gleaming white from that glow and something like an excitement building up in her. She was going home! She was safe now! And as she crested the top of the steps in that light that made everything gleam and look pleasant above all things she could see the skeleton of her home.

It looked strangely peaceful, as if it had been there for a hundred years, completely still and sleeping. What would have looked blackened and charred in normal lighting looked blue or gray, faded and old. The yellow of the caution strip looked white. Kagome's mind couldn't hold it; it went like water through a sieve.

She stepped forward slowly, her heart sitting heavily in her chest. It felt so cold all of a sudden. She felt numb as she walked under the caution strip; it barely grazed the top of her head, giving her a ghost of a touch, a chill running up her spine as she looked behind her. No one there. What had she expected?

Kagome hollowly moved to the well, praying that this whole trip would have been worth it. That something had survived this agony, this terrible hole in her heart where her feelings should have been. There was nothing. Not even the skeleton remained of the well house. It had been made completely flat by the fire; everything had collapsed in on itself. Kagome put her hand in the soot, stroking it in an almost loving way. So…She was completely alone in this. For real. Everything was gone. She was the only survivor. She observed all of this, feeling only emptiness, her mind trying to save her from the pain, trying to tear itself apart to save her.

She felt something brush against her and for a second she was sure that her family was trying to speak to her from the afterlife, but then she looked down at the source. She hadn't been the only survivor. Buuyo, the family cat, purred happily, rubbing his brown and white head on her knee. "Buuyo-chan…" She scooped up the feline into her arms, snuggling him lovingly. "Now I know why Sango-chan feels the way she does about Kirara," she whispered softly against the warm, soft, body.

She stood up and turned back to…her home…It cast shadows on everything around it. Even her. Everything was coated in a gray dust, light, like some unheard of memory dust. Kagome swallowed, everything feeling heavy all of a sudden, her lip quivering. Memory dust…The tiny silhouette of Higurashi Kagome collapsed by the ruins of her home, of her life and in the light that the round white orb floating in the sky gave reflected the tears that fell, leaving a silvery trail down that small face.

Her shoulders shook, unable to take the pain, unable to bear the burden that the world had left on her shoulders. At the edge of that tiny world submerged in water the seven year-old stood, motionless, his small form only a silhouette in the shadows. His expression was serious; the blue of his eyes had darkened, looking guarded and, as always, as if they had seen too much of this. Too much death. Too much pain. Too much of this. Far too much.

Kagome sat like that, crouched to the ground, surrounded by dust, soot, ashes and the moonlight, for a long time and Shinichi himself made no move to go to her, not wanting to intrude on this private pain, until he heard footsteps from the stairs. He looked to see who it was, careful not to reveal himself. Horror and shock froze him for a second as he saw the bulky man dressed in black accompanying a tall man with long blonde hair walking up the stairs, but then his instincts kicked in and he ran over to where Kagome was crouched.

Suddenly Kagome felt a pair of hands touching her shoulders, pushing her up, directing her over to the edge of the shrine, running. Halfway there Kagome realized who it was; the tears still glistened in her eyes which were red and puffy, it was Conan-kun, or rather, Shinichi. The shrunken detective brought her to the thicket beside the shrine, hiding with her among the trees, crouching and making Kagome crouch as well.

Kagome looked with confusion at him, stuttering out, "N-Na-Nanio dente?"

He could hear the hurt in her voice. "Gomen Kagome-san...There's someone here you would rather not meet," he said quietly.

"Demo…Buuyo-chan!" she whispered urgently, looking at her cat who stood out in the open, looking mildly confused as to where Kagome had gone.

Shinichi seemed to be thinking. This was the last part of their household. "I don't think they'll want anything with a cat," he said gently.

Kagome bit her lip, her eyes fixed on the cat. "Dem-"

He held up a hand.

Kagome looked annoyed for a second then listened.

She could see two figures in black walking up. One of them said something, she couldn't hear, but she recognized that voice. That deep voice that had called her onna and called Shinichi gaki…

"That's the one!" she whispered in a hushed voice.

Shinichi looked at her then looked over at them wearily, he was apparently thinking. He didn't want to get any closer but he couldn't hear what they were saying. Frustrated Shinichi gestured for her to stay there while he inched closer, to his annoyance she went with him anyway.

He could barely hear them.

"-tactical advantage, staying private," said Gin to Vodka shortly.

"Ah…"

Apparently Gin had been proving a point and now the conversation was over.

'_Shimatta!_' thought Shinichi angrily. Was there some way he could put a listening device on them or something? He glared as they turned to leave, their shadowy figures disappearing into the dark. It was too dangerous to try anything right now. Even for him. He couldn't beat them to the bottom of the hill to attach something to Gin's car and there was a high probability that Gin had been a lot more careful about those things now…And plus…He looked back at Kagome who was beside him. She would probably follow him, knowing these were the people who…and she had previously had a reckless streak.

Kagome cautiously stood up, moving over to her cat. She picked him up and walked back over to Shinichi.

Shinichi blinked. "You can hold your cat like that?"

Kagome blinked, looking down at Buuyo questioningly as if Shinichi had pointed out a strange spot on his nose. "What do you mean like that?" she asked.

"Holding it up under its arms," Shinichi responded, looking baffled by the fact that the kitty could look so content while being held up like that. "It looks uncomfortable."

"Do you wanna hold him?" Kagome held up the kitty to him.

Shinichi blinked, "A-Ah…Okay…" He took Buuyo carefully from her, holding him the way you're supposed to hold a cat. He was thinking again. "Do you need more time?" he asked her.

The cheer that had started to appear in Kagome seemed to sputter and become silent in the ashes, Shinichi regretted asking.

She smiled faintly and they had immediately returned to acquaintances. "Iie. It's late…I'll be able to see them tomorrow."

Shinichi nodded quietly. Buuyo was purring in his arms. "I'll walk you home then," he suggested.

"Demo…"

He smiled. "It's nothing. I don't live that far away, and I've got kick shoes."

"Okay…"

Kagome walked silently beside him. Neither spoke as they left that underwater bubble of silence. There was only the quiet as the two walked silently side by side down the steps. Both of their thoughts were too dark and deep to be voiced out loud. Kagome was thinking of her family. Shinichi's mind was a complete blank as to what to say.

He had just watched her whole life fall apart in front of her and he couldn't think of what to say. Being shrunk had not been less than traumatic for him, changing his entire life circumstances, which had been, needless to say, humbling, but no one had died. He still had Ran there, his family was alive and well and even if he was separated from them in a sense, at least he could see them alive, talk to them or something.

He kicked himself in the head for not saying what he should have earlier. He would have to say it now.

Shinichi spoke up. "Kagome-san, if you need anything, you know you can contact me, okay?"

Kagome looked up, blinking, she smiled. It was one of those smiles. The kind that didn't reach the eyes. But at least she was trying. "Arigatou…"

"It's nothing…" said Shinichi quietly. He knew she was probably thinking about her family and it was best to give her some space to think.

((this was written by the lovely threehoursofsleep and posted my the amazing Kinz.))

((Reviews make the world go round : ) ))


	6. Kindergarten

((I do not own Detective Conan, Magic Kaito, or Inuyasha))

"A gentle word is never lost...It cheers the heart when sorrow-tossed, And lulls the cares that bruise it."

-Hastings

**Aoko happily stuffed the green been casserole into the oven and put it in for a good thirty minutes.** She then busied herself with apples which she cut up with ease, then she worked on the chicken. It was probably very near four in the morning but She was bound determined to fix her father a nice hot meal for when he returned home. The one from last night had gone cold and the time before that, the meal had caught fire. Aoko had decided to stay up late and then cook the meal up for her father before six in the morning for him to eat. The girl yawned and fixed herself a cup of coffee so that she could stay up and wait for her father. Maybe they should eat dinner together. She had made teriyaki for Yumi's dinner earlier around six or seven and sent the girl to bed a little past nine.

Aoko hummed quietly to herself as she finished up her cooking. She heard a knock on the door and excitement filled her as she went to answer it. Her hand was millimeters from the knob when a small fact made itself known. Ginzo Nakamori did not need to knock to get into his own house. He had a key. She retracted her hand slowly as whoever knocked again. Aoko cautiously stepped up to the peephole to see who it was. Conan and Yumi.

"Nani?" She flipped the porch light on and pulled the door open. "Yumi-chan? Conan-kun?" She blinked down at the small children. They smiled up at her and she granted them entrance. She noticed Conan was holding a cat as he stepped in. Aoko snapped the door shut and locked it. She then turned around and walked into the living room, hands are her hips. "You two have some explaining to do." She said. "You realize the time?" Yumi looked down at her lap and Conan smiled dishonestly.

"Gomen Aoko-neechan! I-..." He glanced at the girl; she didn't need to be in any trouble. "I wanted to show her a haunted house and convinced her to come with me." Kagome blinked and stared at Shinichi. He was lying to keep her out of trouble, even though, now he was going to be in trouble.

"She should have said no." Aoko pointed out. Shinichi looked defeated for a second.

"Demo, She tried to stop me. She shouldn't be in trouble." He came up with quickly. "It's my fault! Don't be mad at Yumi-chan!" He pleaded. Aoko blinked, any other kid, she would have thought he was hiding something, but Conan didn't like it when people were in trouble for the wrong reasons.

"I'm not mad at her. Demo Conan-kun, I have to call Hakuba-kun and let him know where you are." Aoko said apologetically. Conan blinked.

"I know..." Aoko sighed and grabbed the cordless phone and dialed Hakuba's number.

"Hakuba-kun, sorry for waking you, but I thought you should know, Conan-kun is at my house." There was several seconds of silence in the Nakamori household. "No, no, don't worry about coming to get him tonight, I'll keep him here for tonight and take him to school tomorrow, I have to enroll Yumi-chan." More silence as Hakuba talked to Aoko. "Hai. It's no trouble. You're welcome! Oyasumi." She hung up and turned to the kids. "Should I ask why you have a cat?"

"This is Buyo." Yumi explained timidly. "Aoko-neechan... can I keep him." Aoko looked at the seemingly fat and happy cat.

"Buyo-san?" She questioned and then smiled rather brightly. "Hai! Welcome to the family Buyo-san!" She said happily. Her father wouldn't mind having a cat, he was never home anyway. She sighed and held her arms out to hold the cat that was sitting in Conan's lap. Conan looked at Kagome and she nodded to say it was okay. Shinichi carefully handed the cat over to Aoko.

"Konbanwa Buyo-san." She said brightly the cat meowed and Aoko set him down gently. Buyo stretched and laid down on the carpet. "Kawaii!" Aoko exclaimed and then put her strict 'neechan' face back on. "Both you should go to bed now." A beeper went off in the kitchen. "Ah! The casserole!" She hurried out to get it. Shinichi looked questioningly at Kagome.

"Oi. Daijobu?" He inquired. Kagome looked up at him and blinked. How could she be okay? She had lost all her family except for Buyo; luckily Aoko was going to let her keep him.

"Y-You... didn't have too..." Conan raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't have to what?" He asked. Kagome looked back down at her lap.

"Cover for me." She said softly, barely audible. Shinichi smiled.

"I get in trouble all the time, a little more is nothing." He assured her. Kagome scoffed.

"Baka! What if you get in really big trouble?" Shinichi blinked.

"Don't worry about that, I can take care of myself." Kagome blinked, Co-no Shinichi was willing to take the blame, though it had been entirely her fault. Everything was her fault, it was her fault for bothering with the kid-no. It wasn't. She would not allow herself to think that way. She had saved his life, under the impression he was a troublesome little seven year old.

"Kudo-kun… Arigatou…" She said as she slipped off the couch. "I'll go to bed now." She decided. Shinichi blinked and then slid off as well.

"I'll go too." He still wanted to talk to her. She still needed someone to talk to. Kagome blushed and then let it go, she had slept in the woods with Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo, Kirara included. Shinichi was just one person so it should be fine.

"Hai." She started up the steps, Shinichi following after her. The girl pushed the door open and crawled over to the full sized bed in the guest room. She climbed up on it and crawled to the other side so Shinichi could crawl up on it too. She felt the mattress sink in the tiniest bit signaling Shinichi had climbed up too. He left several inches between them so to allow her as much comfort as possible.

She glanced over at him he was staring at the ceiling. She sighed and turned to face the window she had recently snuck out through. She looked up as the door creaked open and Buyo entered the room, jumping up on the bed and squishing Shinichi.

"Agh!" Shinichi sat up from the attack, ripped away from his thoughts. Kagome couldn't help but giggle as the cat neared her and curled up between the two not-children.

Shinichi was glad to hear the girl giggle, he hadn't heard it before and there was something about it.

"Ne, Kudo-kun… what's elementary like the second time around?" She asked. Shinichi blinked.

"Boring," He admitted. "It's even more boring then that the third time around." Kagome blinked.

"This has happened to you twice?"

"Huh? Oh no. I was held back last year-or I would have been, but I tested out of it after the first few weeks, I missed too much school." Kagome grimaced, she couldn't imagine almost being held back from a grade she had passed already.

A small "Oh" escaped her lips. She wanted to know why he had been held back. "Why?" The word tumbled out.

"Huh? Oh… heart transplant."

"You had-?"

"Un, it was… because of something I did." He admitted. "But that's okay, because now I have someone else, other than Haibara, I can talk to about it." He cheered himself in attempt to cheer her and make her feel better.

"E-eh? Oh…" Kagome found herself blushing. "I-I…" It hit her what he was trying to do and smiled. "Arigatou."

Shinichi smiled lightly, it had helped, a little. He frowned, now there was nothing to talk about, he wanted to know more about her, but he couldn't ask, not now, he'd let her question him though. He returned his gaze to the ceiling, if she wanted to sit in silence he'd allow her to do that as well.

Kagome didn't know what else to say to him. She didn't know what else to ask. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to find out a little more about him, she was going to be spending a lot of time around him.

"How was it for you… shrinking… I mean." Shinichi glanced over at her, thinking it over, he had never really thought about it. He never really had wanted to talk about it.

"It was hard." He answered finally. "I had to live with my childhood friend and her father. I couldn't-Can't tell them who I really am. Now, Ran is married with a small child." He said bitterly. "The hardest part was knowing I threw everything away, it wasn't anyone's fault but my own." He clenched his fists together. "The reason She got together with _him _was my fault."

Kagome stared, what was he saying? It was obvious he was in love with this Ran girl. But how was it his fault? She watched him, waiting for him to elaborate.

"You know, somehow the story I had started with got twisted around to me being the son of Kudo Shinichi, Ran wouldn't forgive me, She still hasn't." He forced the thought away. "I thought I would apologize to her in person-"

"But-"

"I took two of the temporary antidotes and ruined all chances of Kudo Shinichi ever returning." He sounded hurt. Even if it had happened awhile ago… he was still just as pained by the thought. Kagome briefly considered saying something. She didn't want to depress him.

"Kudo-kun…" She voiced, staring at him. Conan felt her gaze and looked over at her. She really was quite cute. He felt vaguely like a pedophile, She was only about five appearance-wise.

"N-nani?" He demanded.

"N-nothing!" Kagome turned away quickly.

-

School. Elementary school. Somehow it seemed bigger then it once had, her actual first day of school she could remember even now, she could remember standing with her mother, staring up at the building in fear, it had seemed like a monster at the time and now, now it seemed as though that monster had been devoured and a new monster had taken over. She had a feeling like it would swallow her whole. She stared at the building blankly, she had nearly made it into high school and now here she stood, back at grade one.

Her knuckles were white from her tight grip on the bento her caregiver had lovingly packed for her. She stood dressed in the small pink jumper and white long sleeved shirt she had borrowed from the same caregiver.

"Yumi-chan, ikou" said caregiver held out her hand for the small girl to take.

"Hurry up!" He, Conan-no Shinichi chirped. "We'll be late." Kagome snapped out of her revere and took the out stretched hand and followed the high school junior toward the building.

"Ah! Hai!" She called.

"Good morning Aoko!" A voice came through. The three, Aoko, Kagome, and Shinichi, looked up to see a teenaged boy with unruly hair leaning against the entrance to the schoolyard.

"Kaito!" Aoko reacted, the small not-children watching. "You're going to be late! What are you doing over here anyway?"

"So are you!" The boy countered. "Anyway, I actually came because I fancied a pastry, want one?" He held a box out to her. Aoko sighed and shook her head.

"I already ate. And **I** have a reason to be late,** you** don't.

"I do so, I was hungry." Kaito pointed out. "So why are you taking Conan-kun to school, and who's the new one?"

"Nakamora Yumi-chan." Aoko stated. "And she and Conan snuck out last night and he ended up staying at my house." Kaito shook his head and looked at Conan.

"Hakuba misses everything doesn't he? Except normally he catches you…" Conan shrugged.

"Jake." He said simply.

"Ah." The subject was dropped. "Well I'll see you later then." He turned to Aoko. She nodded and headed into the building, pulling the small girl, gently, along with her. Shinichi followed after watching Kaito leave.

"If you need anything I'm sure Conan-kun will be happy to help."

"Hai!" Conan responded.

Aoko finished enrolling Yumi into kindergarten.

"Both of you should head off to class, Conan-kun, I have to get back to school, would you mind taking Yumi-chan to class?" Conan shook his head.

"Not at all." He assured.

"That's all right, I'll do it." A lady's voice sounded from behind them. She was dark haired and fairly tall. Her complexion was light and she wore frames with small lenses. "I'm Kanada, her teacher." The woman explained.

"Ohayo Kanada-sensei!" Aoko bowed deeply in respect. The teacher nodded and turned to Yumi.

"Come with me then, and we'll introduce you to the class." Kagome nodded timidly and took the teacher's hand and was led away. Conan bid Aoko goodbye and headed to class as well.

-

Kagome sat staring at the board, bored out of her mind. They were learning stroke order and how to write hiragana characters. She had almost made it to Kanji, she supposed now her handwriting would be perfect. She hated every minute of her first day. The children were nice though. Already three or four had claimed her as a friend, inviting to join them at game time. If she was really five she would have forgotten all about the horrible things that happened, but she wasn't she was fifteen and very near sixteen.

"Yumi-chan, you can walk home with us!" One of the three had offered. Yuki, if she remembered right.

"Th-that's okay… I already have someone to walk home with…" She said shyly.

"Eh? Yumi-chan has an older sibling?"

"N-no, but he-"

"Yumi-chan." Conan stepped out the doors and headed over to the two girls, a few children trailing after him. Shinichi sighed and turned to them. "I'll catch up with you guys later." He told them. They nodded and quickly became interested in something else. Yuki blinked at Conan and then turned to Yumi.

"You're going home with him, aren't you?" Kagome nodded and Yuki smiled and bounded off.

"Already making friends? That's a good thing." Shinichi offered as they started off for the Nakamori residence, stopping at a convenience store for ice cream, which Shinichi had treated her to.

"Ne, you seem to be quite popular…" Kagome voiced. Shinichi looked at her and kept walking.

"Yeah, because I run the Ekoda Elementary version of Teitan Elementary's The Shounen Tantei Dan." He stated. "Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta all thought it would be good to expand the group to other elementary schools. Haibara just encouraged the whole thing." He sighed. "We meet every Wednesday at the Tokyo main library at four thirty so we all have time to get there."

"So tomorrow?" Shinichi blinked, was it Tuesday? He supposed it was.

"Yeah, tomorrow, you wanna tag along?" Kagome thought it over, she really didn't want to stay home with only Aoko for company.

"Sure." She nodded. Shinichi smiled. "Excellent. Now I'll have another person, besides Haibara I can talk to."

((Short. Yes. But that was all that was planned in this update x.x this update was brought to you by Kinz911))


	7. Crushing

((I do not own Detective Conan, Magic Kaito, or Inuyasha))

"_I believe the future is only the past again, entered through another gate."_

_Arthur Wing Pinero_, The Second Mrs. Tanqueray_, 1893_

**Conan tapped his fingers on the table in a bored fashion. **He hated these weekly meetings. Nothing ever happened, so why shouldn't he hate them. He had introduced Kagome to the group, explaining she was a new member and his partner. A BIG mistake on his part, Ayumi was immediately jealous. He hadn't known how else to introduce her though, if he just said she was a new member She'd be attacked with questions, and Kagome didn't need to be interrogated with meaningless questions.

Meetings were routine, the Shounen Tantei dan, which had expanded to every elementary school in Tokyo met in the back room the library had so graciously given them. Genta would get up and talk about the lack of cases, Conan would step in and suggest that people don't need a detective for everything in their lives. This speech led to Genta's rant about needing to put their name out there, and that normally landed them with some form of community service.

This weeks was simple enough, clean the park. Shinichi was fine with that, he liked helping to keep the park clean, Kagome didn't seem to mind either, and he kept a watchful eye on her though, just in case. Shinichi wasn't sure how this was going to get the name of the, already famous, Shounen tantei dan out in the public. Everyone in Tokyo knew that shounen tantei dan met on Wednesday, there was a notice on the library door, along with that note (on bright hot pink paper) was a list of founders. Yoshida Ayumi, Koijima Genta, Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko, Haibara Ai, and Edogawa Conan. Which, generally, led to problems. Today was one of those said problems.

"Excuse me, are you Edogawa Conan?" A man had walked up to him. Shinichi looked up at the man, he was young, had a thin face, oval shaped, brown eyes, and a long hooked nose. His hair was a shade of light brown and shaggy as it truly looked like someone had stuck a mop on his head, except his hair was clean. He was wearing a dark, forest green shirt, and dark brown jacket. His jeans were faded and a hole rested in the right knee of the pant legs.

"Hai." Conan responded as he raked up a few leaves into his pile. The young man smiled and offered his hand to shake. Shinichi raised an eyebrow but shook hands with the man anyways. There was only one reason anyone would hunt him down intentionally to talk to him and that reason was-"Kaitou Kido." Conan stated. The man blinked before Conan went on. "That's the reason you want to talk to me, right?"

"That's… sort of right. Have a minute?" He asked. Shinichi set his rake down and turned to Kagome, silently asking if she would mind if he went off to talk with the man. Kagome didn't know if she quite thought that to be a good idea but nodded. She didn't want to force him to stick with her at all times. At her agreement he stuffed his hands in his primary school uniform's pockets and walked off with the man, heading in the direction of a café the man was leading him too.

"Alright." Conan said as soon as they were settled in a booth. "What's this about?" The young man fidgeted and sifted through his breast coat pocket, pulling a white piece, tri-folded paper from it. He careful unfolded the sheet and handed it over to Conan. Shinichi glanced at it.

On Hallow's original eve I will appear to steal 

_The diadem of fate._

_-Kaitou Kid_

Shinichi raised an eyebrow at the incredible vagueness of the letter. Some of it was obvious, but the rest was a mystery, it wasn't there. It wasn't hidden, it flat out wasn't there. It looked like someone had attempted to see if they could write in Kaitou Kid's cryptic riddling fashion and failed horribly. Which could only mean one thing-

"It's a fake." He stated dismissively. The man blinked and Shinichi was forced to go on. "Kid likes to state what he's stealing, when he's stealing it, and most importantly _how_ he's going to steal it. This notice only says when and what." He explained, taking a sip of his orange juice. The man nodded in understanding.

"That's why I said it was sort of Kid related, I know it's fake. I think someone is after the Kid's life." He stated. "You know how that last heist went don't you?" Conan's eyes had narrowed in suspicion.

"That's an awfully bold assumption, murder." He said calmly. "And who exactly are you?" The man faltered.

"I Know, it seems bold but after the last heist-"

"Kid's had people after his life before." Conan interrupted him. "He's more then capable of fending for himself. But that leaves my question unanswered, who are you?" The man took the letter back and stored it back in his pocket and then toyed with his chopsticks a little, deciding on an answer.

"I'm Noda Kenji. President of the Kaitou Kid fan club." He finally admitted a little quietly. Shinichi blinked. The president? He'd always thought that would be some teenaged girl with every available picture of the thief plastered on her bedroom walls possibly covered in lipstick marks.

"The president." He sipped his orange juice again as he thought it over. Any Kid fan would proudly state that's who they were. He also found it odd this guy was worried about Kid. No one ever was, Kid was intangible, or so his enigma stated. No ever worried about kid, especially not their fans because the reason they went to the heists was to watch him defy the laws and 'ooh and awe' when fireworks were added into the concoction. No one **ever** thought about the possibility that, that night's heist could be the thief's last. They all had it in their head the thief would be around for years and years to come, and nothing would ever stop him, why, because he knew how to handle the obstacles in his way. Kid could dodge cops, insult and tease detectives, steal jewels and return them within the hour, slip into the night while being clad in white, disappear and reappear with in twenty seconds, but most of all the thief was more then capable of throwing a few snipers off as he dodged several bullets and stayed in the air. "Then why are you here?" Shinichi asked finally. The president looked stunned.

"Because I'm-"

"No." Conan cut him off again, impatient. "You are not worried. No one is. Even when a letter is faked and an obvious trap, no one would worry, because Kaitou Kid is anything but stupid, he would know to be on guard and he would know how to get out of the trap laid out for him. And that." He referred to the notice. "Is such an obvious fake no one would even question the idea. Kaitou Kid wouldn't need to worry about that fake because no one would be fooled by it. It'd just be an empty threat. Because it is an obvious fake, that brings me to a new question."

"And that is?"

"Why did you write this?" Conan left him no room to object, his voice was final and his past speech cut down any arguments the man could have made. He stared, in complete shock the boy could discover him so easily. Finally, as Conan took the last sip of orange juice, he leaned back in the booth's seat.

"I had my reasons." He said quietly, so no one would overhear. Conan was about to press farther questions, his patience had been spent, he had opened his mouth, a glare clear on his face and then his head dropped onto the table. The man took a sip of his coffee as he stared at the now conked out Edogawa Conan. "This…"

-

Kagome waited at the park for Shinichi, even after the park was good and clean and they were all dismissed. Genta had asked about Conan's whereabouts and Kagome had explained about the man coming up and asking Conan for a minute of his time. This apparently got Shinichi into some form of trouble with his plans. They started complaining about how Conan always went off and did things for himself.

And so Kagome found herself sitting on a park bench waiting for Conan to get back. Even if the man had said a minute, cases could take some time, but she had an odd feeling about all this. It was starting to get late, the sun was starting to glow orange and sink down over the horizon, painting an angelic pink tint on to the skies above. Conan had been gone for about an hour. Pastel pink faded into a light purple which turned into a midnight purple from there an inky black. Conan was officially missing, to her anyways. It had been over two hours and she had no clue as to where he was, if found out he would be gone this long, wouldn't he call her? Maybe he gotten too wrapped in the case he forgot to call. She pulled out the phone who let her borrow and found his number in the contacts list. She was greatly discouraged when the answering machine had picked up immediately. Something was wrong.

"There you are!" A voice sounded behind her. Kagome wheeled around to stare up at the boy who was probably late to school yesterday morning. He was grinning, a wide grin that was kind of un-nerving. "Aoko's been worried sick, sent me after you." He explained. Kagome moved away from him, scooting closer to Genta.

"I'm not leaving. Conan-kun's not back yet." The smile on Kaito's face faltered almost immediately at her words.

"He's not with you guys?" He looked around. "Well, where did he go?"

"I don't know." Kagome admitted. "He went to talk to someone about something and he hasn't come back." Kaito looked thoughtful for several minutes and then grinned down at the kids.

"I'm sure he's fine, probably just went home." He tried. Shounen Tantei dan were reassured but Kagome wasn't. Would Shinichi just ditch her like that? She hoped he would at least tell her he was leaving. Kaito watched as the three children left and turned back to Kagome. "Yumi-chan, come on. I have to take you home." Kagome shook her head.

"I'm not moving." She said stubbornly. Kaito let out a sigh and lifted her up, tossing her easily over his shoulder and headed back to Aoko's. Aoko was all too happy to see Yumi and hugged her tightly explaining how worried she was and telling the girl to never scare her like that again. After she had sent Yumi to bed Kaito had taken it upon himself to borrow her phone. She put her hands on her hips but froze when she noticed his frantic tone of voice.

"Hakuba-kun! Did Conan ever make it home today?" He asked, hoping against hope that he had.

"No." Hakuba admitted. "I was just about to go out and look for him, if he just went off somewhere and forgot to call he's going to be in big trouble." He stated.

"I don't think that's the case." Kaito admitted. "Yumi and the other children were waiting for Conan when I found them, Yumi said he went off to talk to someone for a minute and never returned." Hakuba froze. Kaito could tell he had just forced worry onto the new father. "Should we meet up someplace?"

"Yes, meet me at the park." Hakuba hung up and turned to Ran, who currently had Jake in her arms as she burped him, gently patting the baby's back. "He-Conan, we don't know where he is." He told his wife. Ran bit her lip and stopped her gentle pats on her son's back.

"He…?" She questioned. Hakuba went over and kissed her forehead and touched the back of Jake's head fondly.

"Don't worry, I'll find him." He promised. "You two just stay here, where it's safe. I'll be back later." He grabbed his coat and slipped it on. "I'll call you when I find something." Ran nodded and watched her husband slip out of the apartment. Hakuba headed straight to the park and didn't stop for detours. He checked his watch as he reached the park. Ten fifteen. It had taken about twelve minutes to get there. Kaito was already leaning casually against a bench and stood up straight as Hakuba came into sight. He didn't offer a smile because a missing child, even if he wasn't really a child, was serious business.

"Where should we start?" Kaito questioned. Hakuba had his phone out.

"First, we tell the police to be on the look out for him." He explained, dialing in the number to Megure's office. The police agreed to be on the look out as Hakuba knew it wouldn't be an official case until tomorrow, he hated that. The longer Conan was missing the more likely it was that he died. Now he didn't know what to do. Try and find the man that Yumi had told Kaito about? It was impossible he'd still be there. It would be a start, and where did Conan go when he left with that man? Hakuba was going to have to press the 'don't talk to strangers' rule. Which Conan obviously didn't pay any attention to. Kaito looked at Hakuba for instructions. "We're gonna have to search tomorrow, we don't have enough leads to do anything just yet." He explained. Kaito nodded gravely. The detective was right, without anything to go on there was nothing that could be done, except wait. They'd just have to wait and talk to Kagome tomorrow.

-

Conan woke up several hours later, his hands were bound tightly behind his back, he was sitting in a basement of some kind, possibly an attic. Several questions presented themselves in his mind. Where was he, why was he here, where was his kidnapper? Obviously the orange juice had been drugged, but when had he drugged it? Conan didn't take his eyes off the man during the entire meeting, had he paid someone to slip the drug into the cup? That made the most sense.

If the man had wanted him dead he would have killed him already, so he was needed for something, but what? Had that man really been the president of Kid's fanclub? Probably. Logic answered for him. He had been reluctant to give his name, he hadn't wanted to be overheard. So this had something to do with kid. What, he wasn't quite sure yet. He highly doubted if Kid would ask his fanclub members to kidnap someone. If he wanted him out of the picture Kid could just kidnap Conan on his own. He'd probably done a better job this guy. Of course, this guy's technique had worked. So he deserved a little credit. But that heist notice. Did he really expect Conan to think it was authentic?

"I hope you don't think too bad of me." The kidnapper's voice sounded. "It's just that, well, you can't go to the next kid heist." Conan was intrigued this guy seemed almost concerned.

"And why is that?" He asked. The president shifted uneasily and sat down in front of Conan.

"Kaitou Kid likes you." He stated. "Not in a creepy way, but he does like you, he'd be upset if something were to happen to you and might not continue what he's so good at." Conan snorted he couldn't help it. This guy was reaching.

"Look, Kaitou Kid and I understand each other in one sense; we're both geniuses. He knows I can get out of a tight spot just as I know he can do the same." Conan explained. "What you've told me allows me to guess someone is after my life." He stated. Kenji nodded, impressed by Conan's reasoning.

"I overheard a guy talking on a walkie-talkie at the last heist, he said they would kill you at the next one, to make kid squirm." He reported, watching Conan carefully. "You understand then, right? Why I can't let you leave."

"Bull shit." Conan said bluntly. The man blinked.

"I don't-"

"I said Bull Shit. I'm perfectly capable of handling myself, if anyone was after Kid's life and switched targets to me, they wouldn't discus that sort of thing within earshot of another person unless they tried to kill them later, and besides that, Kid wouldn't let anyone shoot at me, and not just me, anyone. He doesn't want other people to get hurt. He's annoying as hell but he's not a bad person. Finally. If you were worried someone was after my life, why not go to the police about it? I'll tell you why, because whatever you want with me can't be legal." The man was shocked again at how fast Conan could see right through his ploy.

"You're right, So what do you think it is, little detective?"

"It can't be to kill me, you'd have already done that, ransom?" The man snorted.

"I don't know how you got to be such an annoying know-it-all, but you're right, it is ransom, I need a certain jewel, and you're going to help me get it." Kenji stated. "Kid won't like that I've kidnapped you, we both know it. He'll do as I ask and then I'll let you go, promise." Conan watched him, could he trust this guy wouldn't kill him once he got what he wanted? He didn't seem like that bad of a person, especially since he was so hesitant about everything in the café.

"What is it you want?" He asked.

"My girlfriend, she's sick and I don't have the money to pay for the surgery, and she's running out of time, so I got desperate. You'll be able to forgive me, won't you?" He asked. Conan watched him.

"Why didn't you just ask him?" Shinichi questioned. "I'm sure Kid would help you, if your intentions really are as honest as that." He shook his head. "I can forgive you, but I don't really like being tied down." Kenji nodded and moved to sever the bonds but stopped.

"You'll just leave. And you're my trump card, besides, you might stop Kid from his heist." Kenji sat back. "I'm sorry, but you have to stay here." He informed the detective. "But I'll let you go as soon as I can." He stood up and left down the ladder, allowing Conan to confirm he was in an attic.

-

"Damn it!" Hakuba swore. "How could he be gone? No one's seen anything?" He had officially filed the missing person's case he had hoped he wouldn't have to file. He had taken a brief interview with Yumi to get any and all information he could. So far all he had to go on was his appearance; Light brown shaggy hair, long hooked nose, brown oval shaped eyes. Unfortunately that was not enough to get him anywhere he was also aware that what ever the reason for Conan's kidnapping, was Kid related.

Ran was a mess, she was worried about Conan and she had to take care of Jake, who was only a few months old. Hakuba promised her in the morning when he went out that morning that he would find Conan and he would bring the boy back alive. He picked Yumi up from Aoko's and took her to the park they had been at the day before to see if she could point out which way Conan and the man had walked off in. She had been watching as they walked away, but that told him nothing, because he didn't know where they had gone next.

Already in a foul mood, Hakuba found himself even more annoyed when his phone rang and he was able to recognize the caller's name and number. Saguru was sure this person knew about what happened and was surely going to blame it all on him, as he often did when anything went wrong in Conan's life.

"Hai?" Hakuba forced his voice to be calm, hiding the bitterness he held for Hattori Heiji.

"Ahou!" The angry Kansai teen shouted. "What's this about Edogawa Conan missing? You better find him!" Hakuba sighed.

"Please be reasonable Hattori-kun, I am doing the best I can."

"Your best ain't good enough!" Hakuba ran a hand down his face in annoyed manner.

"My best. You realize I have no real leads at this point?"

"Kudo could do it." Hattori stated. "And so could I."

"Kudo could? Then why doesn't he get down here and find his own damn son?" Hattori winced.

"H-he… he can't." He started. Hakuba bit his tongue.

"Some father he is." He took a calming breath. "What time are you going to be in?"

"Eh?"

"You're coming down aren't you? What time will your train be here?" Hakuba asked.

"About four hours." Hattori hung up. Hakuba shut his phone and sighed. It was an eight hour drive to Osaka and about a six hour train ride, Hattori was already on his way when he called. He flipped his phone open again and dialed in Kaito's number, he was not going to meet the Kansai detective, he had work to do.

"Kuroba-kun, go pick up Hattori-kun at the station at nine o'clock tonight." He hung up, leaving Kaito no time to protest.

"…Thanks for giving me a choice…" The thief said bitterly as he tucked his phone away. He didn't have a heist tonight so it would be-shit! He did.

-

Four hours later Kaito was on edge. He had to perform a heist at eleven, he had two hours to get Hattori to the police station, or to Hakuba's, that was on the way to the museum so would work better and then get to the museum to set up. He really hated Karma.

Hattori, upon arriving at the station had been, to say the least, irritated. Kudo wasn't answering his phone (of course; it was _never _that easy) and it unnerved him that this would have something to do with Kaitou Kid or rather, that it was completely out of character from what he'd looked up about this character. Not to mention that Kudo was getting sloppy. He was his best friend but sloppiness was coming around a lot more than it felt like it had before.

"Oi. The jerk didn't tell me enough about what's going on with Conan,' he announced.

Kaito looked up and sighed, it was just like Hakuba to send him to get Hattori, probably because he was depending on the hope they would annoy each other. Just out of spite Kaito decided he'd be as amiable as possible.

"Y-yeah… he doesn't like you…" Kaito stated. "I can tell you what I know, which is close to what Hakuba knows, and a bit of my own research, Hakuba doesn't like to tell me things… think's I'm Kaitou kid."

"Hmm," Hattori looked over him. "Well if you are I know it wasn't you, or at least I'm pretty sure. So what do you know? (I have to start somewhere)." Hattori looked at him levelly.

Kaito nodded, pleased he'd be able to help, if only a little.

"Right, my friend Aoko sent me to go look for the kids, when I found them Yumi said Conan hadn't come back from a meeting with someone yet." He stated. "Yumi said Conan knew it was Kid related and the man said it was sort of kid related." He went on. "After Hakuba filed the case and officially kicked me out of the case, all I got from Yumi was the appearance of the man. I did little digging and was able to find the café the kidnapping happened at. No, I did not tell Hakuba." It was pay back for not letting him help.

"Didn't tell Hakuba…"Muttered Hattori. Suddenly his gaze shifted and he looked furious. "He said he didn't have any leads! There's a kid's life at stake and you didn't tell the leading detective where the kidnapping took place!?!" He looked positively murderous. "Where is it and what is it called?"

Kaito winced. So maybe it wasn't possible for him to be amiable, oh well.

"Alright, Alright." He went back to being normal Kaito. "I thought I could figure it out before Hakuba, the two of us are top in our class, while detective work isn't my profession, I –_can_- do it." He took a breath. "the café, it was the ramen hut just about a quarter of a mile from Tokyo's main park."

"Hn. Thank you." Hattori left quickly.

Kaito blinked.

"Oi wait!" He called out, hurrying behind the detective. Wait! What was he doing? He had a heist in, he checked his watch, an hour and forty-eight minutes.

-

Kaito followed Hattori to the café, mentally cursing himself as he was losing time. Conan was going to be the reason Nakamori caught him… little brat. He raised an eyebrow as Hattori pounded on the door and casually shoved it open. Sure the door had been locked but locks meant nothing to him.

Hattori looked at Kaito for a second, raised an eyebrow and walked inside.

Kaito grinned cheerily and stepped inside as well.

"Eh? Customers?" The lady who had been in charge of closing the store. "I thought I locked the door, I'm sorry but we're closed for the night."

"I know." Kaito chirped.

"I just wanted to ask you some questions regarding the potential kidnapping case," said Hattori quickly.

The lady blinked and then nodded.

"Yes?" Kaito looked at Hattori and then realized the Osakan detective didn't know the appearance of the man.

"Did a fairly tall man with shaggy light brown hair, long hooked nose, and almond shaped eyes come in here with a little boy, about six or seven, looked like a much younger me?" The lady blinked.

"I-when?"

"Oh yeah… forgot that part, yesterday around five or six." The lady thought about it.

"I think so… I saw someone matching that description talking to Koshin-kun out side…"

"And did you know what they were talking about-hold on." Kaito answered his phone which interrupted the conversation with its cheery tune of something one would hear at a circus.

"Yes?" He asked then paled as the girl on the other end sounded frantic. "Aoko, calm down I-Quit yelling!"

"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! AND DON'T YOU TELL ME WHAT TO DO KUROBA KAITO! YOU FIND YUMI-CHAN RIGHT NOW!" The line went dead. Kaito was left staring at his phone.

"….A word of advice? Don't tell a girl to quit yelling…"

Hattori deadpanned, "I do it all the time." He turned back to the lady, "You were saying?"

Kaito blinked, amazed at how Hattori was still alive. The lady blinked at Kaito's phone and shook her head before turning back to Heiji.

"I didn't hear much of the conversation, just one part, the guy said something about 'make sure you give him the right glass." She explained.

Hattori's eyes widened, "Did you see when he left the building with Conan?- I mean, the boy?"

"Eh? No… I went on break just as I saw the conversation, when I got back the man was already gone."

"Hm." Hattori turned to the door. "Is there anyone else we can talk to about this? Anyone whose shift it was?"

The lady shook her head.

"N-no, we were all on break then, except for Koshin-kun, he's the supervisor… he'll be in tomorrow morning at eight though, you can talk to him then."

"Does he have a card here?"

"A-ah… hai.." She fished a card out of her pocket. "It's on all the hotel staff's cards."

Heiji took it from her. "Thank you." He left, pondering.

Kaito bid the lady goodbye and headed out. He twitched as Aoko's ringtone met his ears again.

"Can I help you?"

"KAITO!" Aoko shouted through the phone. "YOU GO LOOK FOR YUMI-CHAN RIGHT NOW!"

"How do you know I'm not?"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE AN IDIOT!" Kaito blinked at his phone.

"Oi… calm down."

"DON'T YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN BAKA! YOU FIND HER THIS INSTANT!"

"Because I can find a five year old in three seconds, even though, you know, I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START LOOKING!"

"DON'T YOU YELL AT ME!"

"YOU'RE YELLING AT ME!" Kaito shouted back.

"YOU'RE WASTING TIME! BAKA! YOU FIND YUMI-CHAN RIGHT NOW!" Kaito sighed, hadn't they covered this already?

"Aoko, listen, I'll find her as soon as I can, just relax and-"

"I'M NOT GOING TO RELAX! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!? SHE'S FIVE AND OUT THERE ALL ALONE AND PROBABLY SCARED!"

"SHUT UP WOMAN!" Kaito snapped. "I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I'M KIND OF BUSY-Oi, what are you doing?"

"Crying you idiot. Yumi-chan's all alone and all you care about is being stupid." Kaito blinked, he was going to cancel his heist, there was just no way he could get it done.

"…Aoko, I'm sorry, listen, I'm going right now to find her, don't worry so much okay?"

"Okay…" she hiccupped.

Hattori gave him a flat look. "Ahou. Can we get moving? This Yumi kid is the one who saw Ku-Conan-kun walk off?"

Kaito sighed and turned his attention to Hattori.

"Yes, she is." He explained and then returned to the phone, his concern for the girl on the other end obvious. "You okay now Aoko? You should get some tea and I'll call you again soon."

"Five minutes." She told him. Kaito sighed.

"Five minutes, I promise."

When Kaito hung up Hattori looked placid. "So, your wife?"

Kaito turned bright red.

"No! Of course not! She's my childhood friend… that's all."

Heiji reflected on this for a moment, imagining Ran and Shinichi. "Ah, same thing."

Kaito's eye twitched.

"Is not… and besides, I have a runaway to find." He moved away.

"Someone who saw Conan-kun walk off with a complete stranger-" eye twitch "Might be useful. A little. I'll come too."

Kaito inwardly winced. He still had to cancel the heist, how the hell was he supposed to do it with a detective following him around?

"Well, you can take the east side of Tokyo I'll-no… I'll take the east side, you can take the west."

"Tryin to be funny? East and west," Hattori shook his head. "But fine. I'll go."

"That's not the intention but… okay." Kaito sighed, he could cancel. Suddenly he realized –why- Hakuba had wanted him to pick Hattori up. The heist. It was so obvious. He paled at the sound of a ringtone.

Hattori glanced down at his phone, pulling it out. He paused, seeming to think for a moment then spoke. "Ahou- I mean. Hello."

"You haven't let Kuroba-kun out of your sight have you? Kaitou Kid has a heist tonight-"

"I know you're bad at babysitting but I came to find the kid you lost, not to watch another. Bye." He hung up. "Ahou…"

Hakuba sighed. Now Kaito wouldn't get caught by that plan.

Kaito sighed in relief and headed off for the museum, leaving a simple note that he would perform the heist later and that he had an errand to run. Now.. about Yumi. He quickly changed to kid guise and headed for the place he suspected she had gone. The park.

-

He wasn't there. She knew he wouldn't be so she had gone to the second best place. And the most obvious place to go. The kid heist. It had taken some walking but she could already hear the roar of the crowd just at the edge of her sight. There were thousands of people. It may be impossible to find him there but it was the only thing she had to go on. Kid.

And there was plenty of that here. Signs, banners, t-shirts, plushies. It was kind of ridiculous. "Conan-kun!" she shouted as she approached. Once again, really obvious and no choice. Very few people looked up as her voice was drowned out in the screams of joy. Kagome thought briefly of firing an arrow like a flare to get Conan- Or rather, Shinichi's, attention but then she realized she didn't have a bow or an arrow and cameras would go straight to her area which would get her caught and taken back home. She didn't want that.

She had to find him. If he died then she would surely go insane and kill everyone. Which would be bad. A little. Sometimes. "Conan-kun!" she shouted again. "Move!" She pushed some hopeless fangirl to the side.

"Hey!" the girl objected before rolling her eyes and cheering again. Kagome didn't care. "Shinichi-kun!" she tried this time. She squeezed past a fat man and tried again. "Shinichi-kun!" Irritating boy. She would surely beat him within an inch of his life if he wasn't dead already. She swallowed. "Conan-kun!"

Kaitou returned to the heist, in a black hoodie and darkened jeans with a hole in one of the knees, a pair of converse shoes, and cap pulled over his eyes.

"We meet again, Ojousan." Kid greeted Kagome as he lightly tapped her shoulder.

"Con-Oh…" she looked up. "And you are?" She paused and looked all around. Recognition dawned. She pointed at one of the t-shirts. "Um?"

"Ah.. come with me, we need to talk." He explained, not really wanting to talk where all his fangirls could turn and jump him.

"You'll take me home. I'm not going home. And I can make you leave real easy here," she said shortly. "As soon as Conan-kun is home then I'll go home."

"What did you think I wanted to talk to you about? And I have no intention of taking you home, even after our chat. You live at Keibu's house, yes? His daughter would more then willingly beat me to a pulp, should I show up at her door."

Kagome narrowed her eyes at him then sighed. "Fine," she huffed, pushing past another fangirl who did the same routine as the first. Kaitou led them out of the maze of screaming kid fans and over to an area he could keep an eye on the sniper he had spotted and talk freely with Kagome.

"Tantei-kun has gone missing, rumor is that you saw the person he left with."

"I know that," she said coldly, then broke off, seeming to realize maybe he could help find Shinichi sooner, "He was kinda tall with shaggy light brown hair, a long hooked nose and almond shaped eyes. He got Shin-Conan-kun to leave when Conan said it was kid-related, he said sorta. They left the park and I haven't seen him since."

Kaitou nodded. "I see…" He said thoughtfully. "A resident of the city found the kidnapping location. The identity of the kidnapper is still unknown." He admitted. "And miss, I know who Conan-kun really is."

She blinked then said levelly. "I don't know what you're talking about. But I have to find him."

"Loyal?" He chuckled. "Will it ease you to know a detective has a lead? And a strong one at that."

"Strong one?" she thought about it. "No. It'll ease me when I see him okay."

"….you like him?"

"NANI?!" She burst.

Hattori, who happened to be in the area, looked up at the sound of someone shouting something in alarm and ran over to see what was going on.

"Baka! I just met him!" She was bright red. "And I barely know you, you can't just make assumptions like that!"

"Don't you know about love at first sight?" He questioned.

"He's seven! Er-Was! Er- is!" She exclaimed. "And I'm-"

"Fifteen?"

"Er-" she looked down at herself. She laughed nervously. "Well, I don't look like it but…"

"Oi. Don't you have a heist?" said Hattori as he approached.

Kaitou looked up and shook his head.

"Nope, it's postponed until further notice." He glanced back up at the sniper. "And my buddies who wear gray are pissed." He said cheerily.

Kagome looked up at Hattori. "Is this the detective you were talking about?"

"You were talking about me?!" burst Hattori in fury.

"I told the lady you had a strong lead." Kid responded conversationally, his eye still on the sniper.

"Hmph."

As Kagome looked up at him she was reminded so strongly of…"Inuyasha…" she whispered. He certainly didn't look like him but…The posture, the attitude…The comeback…

Oh no…Was this…? Love at first sight?

Kaitou watched the sniper for a good few more minutes.

"…Well if that's all, I'll be off… have a gem to steal, and a sniper to lure away…" The last part was muttered.

"Mm," agreed Kagome. " I have to go to." She quickly stood up.

"No, you can't leave yet," Hattori told Yumi. "It's late, you'll get lost and you won't find him. I'll take care of it." He called Kuroba's phone.

Kaitou tensed and shoved his hands in his pocket to shut his phone off before it would ring.

Kagome noticed. Hattori didn't. He frowned. "Hmm…" He looked at Kaitou. "Ahou."

Kid grinned cheekily at him.

"Yes?"

"I think my phone isn't working, can I borrow yours?"

Kaitou blinked.

"Would I carry a phone on me, to a heist? Honestly, you misjudge me Tantei-han, I'm wounded."

"You're not in kid guise right now, so why not?"

"Because I'm disguised, I'm about to go perform."

"I think you're already performing- and DON'T YOU RUN AWAY!" He grabbed Yumi's arm.

"I am, if nothing else, a showman." Kid admitted. "But I'm also a thief, who is smart enough to leave their phone at home."

"Unless you were in a rush…perhaps?"

Kid blinked.

"I'm never in a rush… except that one time… but that was months ago, so it doesn't count."

"But surely, emergency calls?"

"My assistant takes them." Kid shrugged. "He has my phone. And no, I'm not going to go get it."

"Maybe you just turn it off?"

"Should the incident occur that I drop it, Keibu-san would be at my doorstep in an instant, now wouldn't he?"

"Yes, but since you're such an amazing getaway artist then, speaking of…" Hattori was holding the sleeve of Kagome's jacket which was gone.

Kid smirked.

"Always be prepared, and it seems you have a child to chase after, as I have a heist to complete, lest my fans decide to riot."

Hattori hmphed and ran off.

"Ja ne!" Kaito saluted and went off to steal the gem and get the snipers away from his fans. Once he had them successfully off his back and chasing a dummy he went back to his normal civilian clothes and went to pretend to search the eastern side of Tokyo. He then pretended to notice he missed a call and dialed Hattori's number.

"Ahou. I don't know where she is now because you just watched as she slipped away distracting me with pretending you weren't Kid," said Hattori.

"Eh? But I've been at the eastern end of Tokyo, remember? You're searching the western end?"

"I can check that on video cameras," stated Hattori flatly. "But oh well, you don't have a choice in looking for her, I do."

Kaito twitched.

"I'm not Kid." He denied. "So you lost her again? Good going."

"The feeling's mutual," he said. "Do you know where she could be?"

"Well, no.. I don't know her very well, Conan-kun's the one who talked to her the most."

Hattori blinked, "They talked a lot?"

"Yeah, every time I'm around those two are, they're always talking, whispering about something."

Hattori's eyes widened. "And he didn't tell me..?" he muttered. He shook his head. He must be jumping to the wrong conclusion then. "Was there a case?" he asked.

"No… Hakuba doesn't let Conan near cases, I thought you knew that?"

"Like a shounen tantei dan case I mean," Hattori amended.

"No, not that I know of, of course, the kids don't really come tell me things, I listen to Aoko rant about them doing dangerous things."

"So is she Neechan's sister?"

"Aoko's? No, Aoko's an only child, but they're watching Yumi for now."

"Why?"

"Her parents are missionaries… or something, Aoko said Kid just left her on the door step and then she ranted about how Kid wasn't a good parent, like Kid would have kids…"

"Weird," said Heiji. "So where did she live before she went there?"

"I don't know, but I bet Kid does."

"Does she talk about her family?"

"Not that I've ever heard."

"Does she say really smart things occasionally? I mean- are her grades good?"

"How could you have a bad grade in Kindergarten?" Kaito asked. "But she doesn't talk like a normal five year old, knows the language really well."

"Hmm…"

Kaito sighed.

"She's not here, I'll meet up with you at the park." He hung up, using Hakuba's technique of getting people to do as he asked without protest. It worked.

-

As soon as Kaito got to the park he heard a phone ringing. His. Hakuba?

"I'm trying to find a-I told you! I'm not Kaitou Ki-what?" Kaito paled. "I-I… why are you telling me?"

"Kuroba-kun, Ran is in hysterics because she hasn't seen Conan since yesterday, now she knows about the threat on the boys life, don't. Mess with me."

"I'm telling you I'm not-"

"Just shut up and listen. I'm going to the Kid heist location. You had better be there in ten minutes."

"But I'm twenty-"

"Ten minutes." Hakuba hung up.

It was only a few seconds later that a grouching Kensai detective could be heard approaching the park. When he saw Kaito he frowned. "You are a pain. Do you know that? You and that girl. I came to save-get _Conan-kun_ not go on some wild goose chase around town. _Conan-kun_, got that?"

"I have to get to the museum in ten minutes." Kaito responded and groaned when Aoko's ringtone met his ears.

"I'm sorry!"

"YOU DIDN'T CALL BACK! I WAS SO WORRIED YOU COULD HAVE DIED! AND YUMI-CHAN WOULD HAVE TRULY BEEN LEFT ALL ALONE AND NO ONE WOULD BE LOOKI-"

"…You weren't worried I could have died? It was that Yumi-chan would out there with no one looking for her? Why don't you go look for her Aoko!?"

"BECAUSE IDIOT! I CAN'T LEAVE THE HOUSE!" Kaito blinked.

"Why not? Keibu won't be home for hours, you know how kid heists are."

"I WENT TO CHECK ON YUMI-CHAN AND THEN WHEN SHE WAS GONE I RAN TO GO LOOK FOR HER AND FELL DOWN THE STUPID STAIRS! I SPRAINED MY STUPID ANKLE AND NOW YOU CAN'T EVEN DO ONE STUPID THING FOR ME! I HATE YOU KUROBA KAITO!" She hung up. Kaito blinked.

"She's injured?" He shook his head. "DAMN IT AOKO!" He cursed. He didn't have time to deal with all this, what was he supposed to do? Look for Yumi or go talk to Hakuba? Of course, he had to protect Kid's name but Aoko… and then now…

Hattori frowned. "Alright. I'll go look for the girl? Or see the jerk?"

"No, I have to go, If I don't kid will show up and Hakuba will be convinced…"

"So I'll go find the sneaky girl…I think I know who to see…"

"Thanks. I owe you one." Kaito nodded and ran off to meet up with Hakuba. "Actually…" He stopped. "You should come with me, what ever Hakuba has to say, has something to do with Conan-kun, I'll just face Aoko's wrath later, how much can she do with a sprained ankle, right?"

"Yah but she's still a five year old, right? And we already have one kidnapped kid, we don't need another," said Heiji.

"Well then, you go meet with Hakuba, I'll take my chances with Hakuba's anger, he's not an angry mop wielder."

"Ahou, make up your mind."

"You go see Hakuba, I just realized, even with a sprained ankle Aoko's temper is more dangerous, she'll throw things if she can't hit me."

"Ah."

-

Kaito left the area in a hurry and went off to find Yumi, wondering where would be a good place to look now that the heist was over. Unless, maybe she was following Hakuba? Unlikely.

"Tantei-san, Tantei-han." He appeared in the same outfit he had been in as Kid earlier.

"Oi! Shouldn't you be looking for Yumi?"

Kaitou blinked.

"I thought that was your job." Hakuba rolled his eyes.

"What ever, listen Kid, the kidnapper wants you to steal something and hand it over or else Conan will be in pieces." He stated firmly. "So work with me on this one okay?" Kaitou frowned.

"…Why did you think I was here?"

Hattori's expression had become grave upon hearing what the kidnapper had said, "We need to get to the bottom of this ahou! Quit chit chatting!"

Hakuba nodded and turned back to the thief.

"Send a notice. And tonight. Let that creep know you're going to meet his demands." Kaitou nodded.

"But… what am I stealing?"

"It's a jewel."

"That tells me a lot." Kid said sarcastically.

"The Golden crush."

"Oh, that was my next target anyway. Goodnight detectives, I'll make sure Conan-kun is returned in one piece." He promised just before disappearing in a puff of pink smoke.

Hattori blinked. "Pink?"

"He does it to be annoying." Hakuba stated. "I'm going home." He headed off.

Hattori called Kuroba's cell phone.

"Yes?" He asked, hoping the ringtone hadn't carried over from where he was leaning against a wall several feet away.

Hattori thought he heard something, he blinked and smirked. "HAVE YOU FOUND YUMI-CHAN YET?!!!" He waited and listened.

Kaito paled and quickly lowered the volume on his phone.

"N-no, why are you shouting?"

Hattori frowned, it could have been an echo. He couldn't be sure. "Pink smoke is very annoying. I'm certain there's some kind of psychological…thing about it," he said casually. "And you didn't mention the whole…Conan in PIECES! Thing."  
Kaito blinked, sure there was a trap in there somewhere.

"Pink smoke?" He questioned and then shook his head. "…I told you it was about Conan-kun."

"The pink smoke was just referring to your recent information that you didn't share with me. And telling about Conan-kun and saying someone may cut him up into little pieces if a certain phantom doesn't get a jewel and give it to the crazy person AND that's assuming that the crazy person doesn't just KILL him ANYWAY is called INADEQUETE DISCLOSURE!! THAT is why I am SHOUTING! Prick."

Kaito blinked, happy the volume was on low.

"W-what are you going on about? ….I'm NOT KAITOU KID! How many times do I have to tell you that?!"

" I REALLY DON'T GIVE A FUCK WHETHER YOU ARE KAITOU KID OR NOT! I'M JUST SAYING THAT _SOMEONE _BETTER NOT FAIL AT THIS! I need all the information and I need it NOW!" Hattori paused taking a breath, he was losing his cool and he knew it. He couldn't just force it out of him but this was about Kudo's _life_. He'd already saved it too many times for him to have to go through this again.

"You have all the information I do!" Kaito pointed out. "But that card you got, why don't we just pay the supervisor a visit now?"

"Exactly what I was thinking." Hattori hung up.

Kaito blinked. Should he assume he knew where Hattori was? Or call back and ask? And then there was Yumi… or Kagome as her real name was. She had to be around somewhere. He shed the hoodie and looked down at his green polo shirt. Where had she gone? The best place to look for a kid fan was a kid heist, it was highly possible the kidnapper was still around, which would mean it was highly possible Kagome was around too. He shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets, heading over to where Hattori was standing. Praying Hattori didn't realize he had never told Kaito where he was.

Hattori blinked as he heard footsteps, he looked up and noted in semi-surprise that it was Kaito. Semi because he didn't realize Kaito would make such a stupid move. "Oi. I didn't tell you I was here."

"Yeah, but I knew where you were meeting Hakuba, he told me to come here first after all." Kaito shrugged.

'Hmm…Nice cover up…' "How'd you get here so fast?"

"Because I happened to be nearby, Yumi-chan's probably looking for Conan-kun right? What better place to find a kid fan, then at a kid heist location?"

"Ah, so no luck in the east side then, huh?"

"Nope."

A few yards away Kagome tugged on the skirt of a Kid fan. "Neh, Onesan have you seen my friend Conan-kun? He's _real _close to Kiddo-sama and I need to find him or else Kiddo-sama will be so sad…Can you please please help me find him? Onegai???"

The fangirl looked down. That kinda sounded bad…

"I'll help you find him!" She said happily, still wondering about Kid.

Kaito blinked and looked over in Kagome's direction.

"Aha!" He started towards her. "You come with me, Aoko's worried sick and ended up tripping and falling down the stairs. I don't have time to take you back home just yet, so you're going to have to come with me somewhere." He grabbed her arm. "Hattori-kun has a solid lead, or so we think, at finding Conan-kun, this guy we're going to see, he might know something."

Kagome sighed in resignation, "Haaaai….."

"Hey it's the trouble maker," said Hattori blatantly.

"Don't call her that, she was just looking for Conan-kun, ne Yumi-chan?"

"Mm!" Kagome agreed quickly.

"I was talking about you," said Hattori, his eyes flat. Kaito blinked.

"A-ah…"

-

"Oi!" Bang bang bang! "Oiiii!" More pounding on the door. The door was yanked open a raven haired man stood in the door way, he wasn't wearing a shirt and he didn't look like he'd been sleeping.

"Do you know what time it is?"

"But… you don't look like you were… wait… were we interrupting an evening with your girlfriend?"

"Not a girl." Kaito blinked, thrown off guard.

"W-well…"

Kagome turned red up to her ears and ducked behind Hattori. Hattori faultered. "U-Umm. CONAN!" He seemed to have woken himself up. "You!" He gestured at him. "Where's the little boy!?"

The man blinked. Kaito paled as he realized what Hattori was thinking.

"…what?" The man asked.

"You talked to a man with shaggy light brown hair yesterday, we need to know what was said, everything you know about that man, everything," said Hattori, bludgeoning through the awkwardness.

"Kenji-kun? He's an old friend of mine, he came by yesterday about something, needed me to loan him money."

"What about the boy you had to 'be sure to give the right drink to?'" continued Hattori.

"The boy?"

"Look, where is your old pal Kenji now?" he demanded.

"Probably at his house, it's kinda late." Kaito shook off the shock, he had to ask.

"Kenji-san… he's not… is he?"

The man blinked.

"Not what?"

"You know… um… not…. straight?"

"No, he's not."

Hattori glared. "Moving. On. Where is his house?"

"I don't know, he moved and hasn't given me his address yet."

"Why did he need the money?"

"Make the final rent payment on his old apartment." Kaito wanted to know if the apartment Kenji used to live in, was this one, but didn't dare ask.

"…Is Conan-kun safe?"

"What?"

"Kenji-san has him, that's obvious, but if you two are both… not… straight… is he safe?"

The man blinked. Not really sure what to think about that question.

"Probably."

"Probably?!!" Hattori objected. "He's a seven year old boy and you say-" he mimicked his voice "-Probably?" Hattori took a deep breath. "I'm not sure if you're aware of this but he's threatening to cut up a little kid into pieces and if you helped in any way you are an accomplice to the murder of an innocent! They have tapes up at the Ramen hut so we'll see him leave with Conan and we have reasonable doubt to think you helped in this! You do not. Have. A choice!"

The man took a step back. Kaito watched him. The answer 'probably' was less then reassuring.

"I told you, I don't know where Kenji-san lives."

"But you must have his number?" Kaito offered. The man looked uncomfortable.

"Yeah… of course."

"Then we can get the address from the phone company, now can't we?" Kaito was a little too cheerful. The man took another step backwards.

"I… I'll go look for the number." He headed in. Kaito raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't it programmed in your phone? I know all my close friends are in mine…speaking of close friends…" He rejected a call from Aoko, he'd pay for it later, but this was far more important. The man shook his head.

"I lost my phone earlier, I have all the numbers written in a book though, so if you just hold on."

"Well hurry up then," muttered Hattori, appearing deep in thought. Kagome looked up at him and let out a sigh of relief. The last person she had met like that had wanted to cut off Inuyasha's ears because 'they were so cute.' It wouldn't have bothered her so much if it weren't for that thought that just blew up in her brain and made her hide behind….What's his face. Inuyasha.

The man sighed and headed into the living room to find the book of numbers.

"You know this was a joint effort, why else would he give the workers all a break at the same time." Kaito told Hattori. "And also… that 'probably' doesn't sit well with me."

"Relax, if Kenji-kun was going to do that to him, he would have already done it."

"Oh that's good, then we can't save him, ahou!"

"Besides, didn't you say you didn't-wait. You know he hasn't done anything, don't you?"

"I don't think Kenji would." The man needed to think up something to put them into panic mode. "Although, he did have some form of record with the police." Kaito paled. Poker face failed.

"Wh-what?"

"What's his last name!" Heiji demanded.

"I…Noda." The man realized he had to tell.

Heiji dialed Hakuba.

Hakuba picked up his phone and cursed as Jake was now awake, and crying. Loudly.

"Yes?"

"I need you to look up something about Conan's possible kidnapper. His name is Noda Kenji" said Hattori quickly.

Hakuba made sure Ran was taking care of Jake and headed over to his computer, logging onto police access files and typing in the name.

"What did you want to know?"

"If he has a criminal record and where he lives."

"Well, if he doesn't have a record, his address wouldn't be recorded." Hakuba stated. "It's loading."

Hattori scowled, waiting.

"Oh, it's finished…" Hakuba stated, scrolling through the files. "What kind of criminal record, he's got two, tickets and…" Hakuba paled as he realized this was a suspect for Conan's kidnapper. "Sex offender…" He shook his head and quickly gave them the address.

Hattori pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil and wrote down the address. "Ookini." Click. He turned to the others. "We have to go. Now." He turned and glared at the man. "You better not leave your house," said Hattori shortly and promptly called a taxi.

Kaito wasn't feeling all that well, one of his fans kidnapped Conan and he was a registered sex offender.

-

Conan was slowly working through the information he had from his kidnapper, something wasn't right. He had been drugged, which meant someone had slipped him something, and it wasn't Kenji, this was a joint effort.

"Kid nearly didn't show." Kenji stated, coming up the ladder. Conan glared.

"I care because?"

"You're life depends on him, luckily I could get an ad in the paper, but if he hasn't responded by tomorrow, you're dead."

"I knew it." Conan smirked. "So where is your accomplice?"

"Off with his boyfriend." There was just the slightest tone of jealousy in the man's voice.

"You're not… are you?" Conan asked. Kenji just smirked.

"You'll find out soon enough." He left back down the ladder. Shinichi sat in shock, realizing how bad being kidnapped was. Before it had just been annoying, now his life depended on Kid, and he could be scarred for life during his stay. The man seemed completely different though, in the last times he'd talked to the man, he had seemed so nice. He shook his head to clear it as he heard the sound of pounding on a door just before the attic was closed up and no more sound could get through.

The teenaged detective looked slightly deranged as he beat the door within an inch of it's…wood. "Oi! Open up!"

Kaito stood to the side, watching wearily.

The door was yanked open and Kenji blinked staring at the people at his doorstep.

"Yeah? It's kind of late, what do you want?"

"To talk. Now." The deranged look hadn't quite left his face.

"Talk?" Kenji asked, a little apprehensive.

"Yes, is anyone else here?" asked Hattori, barging in. The man blinked and shook his head, shutting the door as Kaito stepped in, pulling Yumi with him, and keeping her close by.

"No, why do you ask?"

"Do you have any cats even?" Hattori laughed but it sounded incredibly fake. Kenji shook his head.

"No." Kaito looked around, Conan would make some form of noise, wouldn't he?

"Oh good, just wanted to know, for background information. We're looking for a boy who was last seen with you, right?" he asked Yumi for confirmation. She nodded quickly and hid behind Kaito.

"Oh yes, Conan-kun, I talked to him at the Ramen hut and we parted ways a little while later, he wasn't interested in what I had to say."

"Not interested in something Kid related? Or sorta kid related?" Kaito raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound Like Conan, kid heist's are the only cases he's allowed to go with Hakuba to."

Kagome watched him from behind Kaito. "Ne Ne, Ojiisan where's your bathroom???" She piped up. Hattori blinked.

"Oh no, you're not, don't even think about it." Kaito, grabbed her hand.

"It's no trouble, the bathroom is just over there." Kenji pointed to it.

"That's okay, she can wait. And if not, there's gas station at the end of the street, I'll take her there."

Yumi glared sourly, "Mooooou." She looked down at the carpet continuing to think.

"Mind if we take a look around your house, just to be safe?" asked Hattori. Kenji blinked and then nodded.

"If you think you'll find something." The attic was pretty well hidden, and Conan was tied down well enough, he couldn't make enough noise to get noticed.

"Alright. Do you have an attic or something? It's the most suspicious place," said Hattori casually.

Kenji blinked.

"A cellar, in the garage."

Hattori walked over and checked the basement and was disappointed to find it empty. Kaito was scanning the room for something out of place, the piece of string taped to the ceiling looked pretty odd to him.

"Do you collect bits of string?"

"What? What kind of question is-" Kenji's eyes fell on the place Kaito's were. "Oh.."

"Ha!" Hattori ran up to it, jumping up and pulling it down. "An attic, hm?" he climbed up. "Conan!" He saw him tied up on the floor. "You better not have hurt him amayo…"

Yumi ran up.

Kenji sighed and sat down, Kaito glared at him.

"Hattori?" Conan blinked and then noticed Kagome was there too. "Kagome-san?"

"Ah. Ahou." Hattori pulled out his cellphone and dialed the police.

"Daijobu ka?" asked Kagome.

"Daijobu… hungry, but I'm okay." Conan assured.

"You didn't feed him!?" Kaito exploded. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"He never said he was hungry." Kenji defended himself.

"Baka!" Kagome wished she had her faithful yellow backpack with her. She ran down the ladder. "Do you have food in your kitchen?"

"Don't ask the crazy guy anything!" objected Hattori.

"Baka, I'm just asking if he has food, I can always just look," said Kagome, rolling her eyes. Hattori blinked as he realized Kudo had called her Kagome earlier. Her name was Yumi.

"You have some explaining to do," Hattori muttered to him. Conan's eyes were flat.

"Maybe, after I get a nice meal and you untie me. Preferably in reverse order."

"Oi! You can't go off with out an adult… a sane one." Kaito grabbed her arm.

"You're not an adult," said Kagome, trying to shrug him off.

"I'm close enough."

Kagome looked at him blankly before dropping to the ground limply. Kaito sighed, keeping his hold on her and pulling her closer so she couldn't wiggle away.

"No." He said flatly.

"Haiiiiii…." She tried to wiggle anyway.

Hattori untied the ropes. "Better, ahou? But no food yet so you have to explain."

Conan sighed, enjoying the feeling of being free.

"Can I eat while I explain?"

"We have to wait for the crazy to be shipped away," said Hattori. Shinichi glared, his temper snapping.

"I haven't eaten anything in over twenty-four hours, someone had better get me some damn food!"

"See?" said Kagome from her place face down on the carpet. Kaito sighed and pulled out his chocolate bar, tossing it up the attic.

"Eat that!" Conan looked at it and sighed, he supposed now wasn't the time to be picky, he'd just brush his teeth twice to make sure he got them all clean. He grimaced, he hadn't taken a shower in a day, nor had he brushed his teeth.

Hattori seemed to have noticed it to. "You smell good Conan-kun," he smirked.

"Cram it." Conan unwrapped the chocolate bar and took a bite.

"Okay, I'll wait for you to finish then you can tell me about your little friend Yumi-chan then, huh?" suggested Hattori. Conan finished the chocolate bar and sighed, still really hungry.

"I'll tell you later, you know, when there aren't people around to overhear."

"Okay then, if you don't want to get embarrassed," he said, winking at Yumi, who wasn't looking.

"What?" Conan blinked. "I meant Kuroba and Noda."

"Oh, so you don't want them to know about _the two of you_, I get it," Hattori smirked.

"Hattori… you're lucky I'm too weak from hunger to kick you."

"Yup."

Conan sighed and let it go. He was relieved at the sound of sirens.

-

In the next few hours Conan was taken back home where he was fed and then scolded about walking off with a stranger and then hugged and kissed by Ran and then sent to bed. He still had not told Hattori about Kagome but he could do that later, because Hattori was staying with them, Ran had insisted, much to Hakuba's displeasure.

"So…_Conan-kun_….and _Yumi-chan_…_Yumi…Edogawa….._" muttered Hattori. "Yep. Cute. Hair colors match. Matching, pretty cute, should be in a magazine peanut butter and jelly, butter and toast, Conan and death-"

"Alright. That's enough." Conan interrupted. "I'll have you know, death doesn't follow me everywhere I go, it hasn't for awhile, ever since the transplant, and secondly no." He yawned. "Besides, her name's not Yumi-chan, it's Higurashi Kagome-san."

Hattori's eyes widened. "She shrunk?"

"Yeah." Conan confirmed. "Kid brought her to Agasa's and Haibara, he, and I decided she would go stay with Nakamori. So her alias is Nakamora Yumi-chan." He explained.

"But didn't you tell me all the Apotoxin was gone?"

"That's what we thought, and it's highly possible this was a different version of the poison."

"Mm. But why?" he asked. "Why did they use it on her?"

"I'm still working that part out." Shinichi admitted.

"Hm. Weird…So she's fifteen?" he asked.

"Yeah." He confirmed. "Now, can I sleep? I haven't gotten any since I was drugged."

"Yeah."

((Yeah! Another chapter done! Reviews complete my soul))


	8. lol have a drabble and a note

Dear devoted reader of Candy,

We regret to inform you that on July twenty third we will be restarting Candy. My lovely Writing partner and I have decided that it lacks the complete awesome it has the potential for.

…and we got a little silly in some of the chapters. Mostly, we're restarting because Inuyasha ended some time ago and we'd like to fit its canon better, along with re-evaluating our plot points.

We'll have a community up on live journal. It will be 'crossovercandy' for those of you who would like to watch our progress,

Sorry for the inconvenience,

The writers.

Because of this mess up we thought we might provide you with a little entertainment:

Pairings

"The parody is the last refuge of the frustrated writer. Parodies are what you write when you are associate editor of the Harvard Lampoon. The greater the work of literature, the easier the parody."

-Ernest Hemmingway

He continued to stare at her as Kagome's eyes flittered over the page rapidly. She actually looked young for once, though he'd never seen a six year old read quite so quickly. Her eyes widened and with a gasp she nearly fell over from shock. "He was good all along?!" she demanded of Shinichi.

Said shrunken teen suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "Yeah, the tear should have given it away anyway." He fell back against the bed lazily. Kagome's eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah-but-" Then she realized she was ignoring him and huffed, turning back to Naruto. Well, she guessed it made sense, Kohaku had been possessed…But Itachi wasn't! She scowled. Well all that had been pointless now, hadn't it? He'd killed the wrong guy and left poor Sakura for no reason. Poor, poor, Sakura…She'd given everything to him and for what? Sasuke had chosen Itachi in the end. Okay. The metaphor ended there. Kagome shuddered at the implications of Inuyasha x Sesshoumaru. And more literally, hadn't he gone to Orochimaru…? They were pretty similar actually…Kind of, not really. Her inner pondering was interrupted by Shinichi.

"It's funny you read those things, I mean, you're practically living one," he snorted from the bed. Heh. Irony.

Kagome rolled her eyes in response. "And you aren't? Shrunken detective?"

"I don't go blowing up youkai with purifying arrows," he retorted, though she could see the beginnings of a smile on his lips.

"Well…" Kagome didn't know what to say to that. "Manga don't end the way mine did." She frowned.

Shinichi glanced over at her. She looked back. She liked how the blue contrasted with his hair and the way he looked out of the corner of his eye at her.

"Same here," he sighed. They looked at each other for a long moment, then Shinichi did a strange twitch and wiggled around when his phone began buzzing in his back pocket. He sat up, pulling it out. "Hai?" Kagome turned back to her manga, but continued to watch Shinichi surreptitiously.

Her ignoring plan was failing miserably. She had been intending to punish him for getting in danger with that whole Kid situation, but he was really her only friend nearby so it got boring trying to ignore him. She supposed it wasn't even his fault, but it made her angry nonetheless that her only chance at returning things to normal, and her only friend would get in so much trouble.

With Inuyasha it had been somewhat easier to handle, because he was much stronger than Shinichi. Then again…Inuyasha also faced stronger monsters than what Shinichi did. But Shinichi was admittedly smarter…to her embarrassment. He was talking to Hattori (speaking of Inuyasha). She could tell from the expression on his face, it was a special one just for him. One that spoke of annoyance, amusement and embarrassment all rolled into one. She could hear him chattering. She wondered if the phone was just loud or if it was Hattori. Probably the latter.

"Shouldn't you be heading back to Osaka?" Shinichi looked annoyed.

"What? You want me to leave so soon Kudo-kun? I'm hurt," she could hear his drama from here. Kagome stifled laughter. Shinichi glanced over. She coughed, looking back on angsty Sasuke.

"No I just think that you should be with Kazuha or something," Shinichi shrugged, though Hattori couldn't see it.

Kagome could hear him stammering. "Why? Hey. You're at that girl's house, aren't you?" the smirk could be heard.

"Yeah," Shinichi raised an eyebrow.

"Heh. You and your candy," the smirk became more pronounced. "So, does team candy want to go to the carnival, or no?"

Shinichi stammered, blushing. Kagome didn't recognize the English word, at her inquiring eyes Shinichi turned away, hissing something into the phone. He glanced at Kagome's general direction over his shoulder, blush still there. "Yumi-chan, do you want to go to a carnival with this moron and me?"

Kagome blinked, a smile growing on her face. "Hai!"

Shinichi turned back to the phone.


End file.
